Staying Up-to-Date: Managing Updates in F&O

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Introduction:

System updates are crucial for keeping systems secure, functional, and up-to-date with the latest technology advancements and user needs. They are typically provided by software developers, manufacturers, or service providers, and users are often encouraged or required to apply them regularly.

System updates are essential for several reasons:

  1. Security Enhancements: Updates often include patches for vulnerabilities that have been discovered. Without these updates, systems can be left exposed to malware, hacking, or other security threats.

  2. Improved Performance: Updates can optimize how software runs, leading to faster performance and better resource management. This can make systems more efficient and responsive.

  3. Bug Fixes: They resolve known issues, preventing system crashes or malfunctions. Bugs can affect functionality, and updates ensure a smoother user experience.

  4. New Features: Updates frequently bring new tools and functionalities, helping users access the latest technology and stay competitive.

  5. Compliance: In certain industries, system updates ensure that the software complies with evolving regulatory requirements, keeping organizations aligned with legal standards.

  6. Compatibility: Updates maintain compatibility with other hardware, software, or systems that may also evolve. Without updates, older systems may stop working well with newer technology.

One famous story of a catastrophic incident caused by a failure to update a system is the Equifax Data Breach of 2017. Here's what happened:

The Incident: In 2017, Equifax, one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the U.S., suffered a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of over 147 million people. The data leaked included sensitive details like Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some cases, credit card information.

Cause: The breach occurred because Equifax had failed to apply a critical security patch to a known vulnerability in Apache Struts, an open-source web application framework used in one of their online portals. The vulnerability had been identified and a patch was made available in March 2017, but Equifax did not apply the patch in time, leaving the system exposed.

Hackers exploited this known vulnerability in May 2017, and over the next few months, they accessed Equifax's systems and stole massive amounts of personal data. It wasn’t until July 2017 that the breach was detected, and Equifax publicly disclosed the breach in September 2017.

Impact: The consequences were severe:

  • Equifax faced widespread criticism for negligence.
  • The company paid a $700 million settlement to resolve federal and state investigations.
  • The incident led to a massive loss of trust in Equifax and highlighted the risks of not applying critical updates in a timely manner.

Lesson: This breach became a stark example of why system updates and security patches are critical. A failure to update systems, even with known vulnerabilities, can lead to disastrous consequences, including financial loss, reputational damage, and exposure of sensitive information.

Microsoft Dynamics 365, which includes Finance and Operations, has around 500,000 users worldwide as of 2024.
With four service updates released each year and roughly one quality update each month, it is crucial for organizations to stay current with the latest features and security enhancements to ensure optimal performance and protection.

I am confident that this article will highlight the importance of system maintenance and upkeep.

References

Proactive Quality Updates (PQUs) are automatic updates that bring important bug fixes and new features quickly, without interrupting your work.
Delivered through Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS), PQUs are applied in the background, so businesses hardly notice them.

Benefits of PQUs

  • Minimal downtime: PQUs are designed to update your system without slowing you down.
  • Safe deployment: Updates are rolled out in stages, so any problems are caught early before reaching everyone.
  • Automated: PQUs are fully automated, so you don’t have to do anything. The updates happen automatically, keeping your system running smoothly.

Why PQUs Cause Little Disruption

  1. Focused Updates: PQUs only include necessary fixes, avoiding any big changes that might cause issues.
  2. Safe Rollout: PQUs are first sent to a small group of customers. If everything works well, the update is then sent to more regions.
  3. Flighting: Microsoft can quickly turn off any changes that cause problems, helping to reduce any potential issues.

If a serious issue (like downtime or slow performance) happens during a PQU, Microsoft will pause the update and work with customers to fix it. If only one customer is affected, they can open a support ticket to stop the update for their environment.

When Might PQUs Be Skipped?

  • A service update is scheduled within seven days of a PQU.
  • The system already has the same or a newer version.
  • The project is exempt from PQUs.
PQUs cannot be undone once applied. However, Microsoft can turn off specific changes if needed.

Service updates are regular system improvements that give you new features without needing major upgrades.
They contain both application changes and platform changes that are critical to the service, including regulatory updates.
These updates are backward-compatible, meaning your custom code will still work.
Microsoft suggests using the Regression Suite Automation Tool (RSAT) to test updates and make sure nothing breaks.

How to Manage Service Updates:

  1. First Release Program: Get updates early with extra support from Microsoft.
  2. Self-Update: Manually apply updates whenever you’re ready.
  3. Default Schedule: Let Microsoft automatically apply updates based on your settings in Lifecycle Services (LCS).
Microsoft releases four service updates per year (February, April, July, and October).
You’re required to take at least two updates per year, but can take up to four.
You can also pause one update at a time for either your sandbox or production environment.

Pre-Servicing:

For service updates, the preservicing step starts when the update process begins.
During this time, Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) shows the environment as Preservicing.
This means the environment is online and accessible, but no other service actions can be performed.
In this step, the system checks for specific errors that could cause the servicing process to fail.
If any errors are found, a soft rollback occurs, which means the system goes back to its previous state without a point-in-time recovery (PITR).
To resolve the issues, you can check the environment's history logs for the errors and make necessary fixes before trying to update again.

Post-Servicing:

During the post-processing step after offline servicing is complete, the environment status in LCS is marked as Post-servicing.
This means that any index creation or changes that couldn't be done during offline servicing will now occur while the system is online.
Users can still access the environment and continue their regular activities, but performance might be slower due to the updates being applied.

However, users will not be able to cancel existing service requests or start new ones during this time.

Notifications:

You will receive several notifications about Microsoft Dynamics updates:

  1. Update Available: Notification in the action center when a new release is ready.
  2. Five Days Before: Alerts via email and LCS notification bar about the upcoming update.
  3. One Hour Before: A reminder to save work before the downtime starts.
  4. Post-Update: An email detailing the update's outcome, sent to project owners and stakeholders.

Conclusion

By keeping your system up to date with these automatic updates, you’ll enjoy new features, regulatory improvements, and better performance—all without the hassle of big upgrades.

If all this feels overwhelming, feel free to reach out so we can help you getting this set up and manage it for you!

Taking action now will lead to better user experience, minimal disruption in service and smoother operations for your business. 

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