New Patch Management Process from FYRE

Do you install patches? Do you work with Altiris? Then you’ll be interested in our latest coup:

Patch management is a recurring linchpin in the IT industry. In many cases, it is rather cumbersome to handle and requires multiple interventions and «hands on» by administrators.

→ FYRE Consulting has therefore developed a new patch management process that simplifies and automates patch management and makes it much more user-friendly.
The process takes place over several phases (test, pilot and production), which is why it lasts throughout the entire lifecycle of a patch. Read below what features are included.

The new patch management process offers the following features:

• Automatic creation of the policies you have selected.
• The patch management process takes place in several phases (test, pilot and production). The necessary phases and times are defined by you in advance.
• Users in each phase are notified by email when one or more patches are ready for testing.
• A link (the link accesses a workflow, which provides the information) within this email informs about the patches, which will be rolled out. From this, users can get a lot of details and useful information, and in addition, there is also a direct link to the manufacturer, for those who want to get even more information.
• Another link allows the user to submit feedback or a request in an easy way
• The user feedback is automatically written into a database and collected via a website
• An administrator portal opens up many more possibilities (for example, you can see all the feedback that users have left for each patch cycle)
• An emergency stop button, which stops the whole patch cycle. The whole cycle can also be paused and restarted later on.
• The individual patches can be set to different states by the administrator:
  1. Patches which have been successfully tested
  2. patches that cause problems (BAD patch)
• Patches are only included in the next phase if they have been successfully tested.
• User feedback can be conveniently retrieved and analyzed by the responsible persons via the admin portal
• When the patch workflow is up and running, nothing more needs to be done. The system automatically switches to the next phase. This happens according to the previously defined schedule. There is no need for an administrator to intervene manually.
• The process is finished after all clients have been updated according to the patch guidelines. A status report on the entire patch distribution can be read out in Altiris.

If you install patches often, you will find that an automated process will make your work much easier!

Would you like to know exactly what this new patch management process looks like and how it can be implemented at your company? Then get in touch with us. We will be happy to show you our latest coup.

This is what the administrator portal of this workflow looks like:

Here you can see a structured email sent to the test users of the patch management workflow:

Would you like to find out specifically whether this solution covers your requirements?
Get in touch with us and we’ll find out together.