The Deploy phase

In this phase, your objective is to execute the deployment. You'll do so by performing iterative monitoring and management across six areas of your environment:

• Operations
• Applications
• Infrastructure
• Configurations
• Devices
• Users

Let’s look at each of these areas one by one, outlining the tasks and deliverables that will help you accomplish the objective of this phase. For each deliverable, consider a format that's easy to share with others and collaboratively edit throughout the life of the project.

Phased or ring-based approach to deploying Windows

Throughout this module, we refer to deployment rings and various project phases. Some of these terms are often used interchangeably, but for this module, we use the following definitions:

• Proof of Concept (PoC): An optional phase often performed in a lab environment. It’s most helpful in the earliest stages of a project to test basic functionality and assumptions. This phase is sometimes called a limited pilot and is covered in the Prepare phase.
• Pilot: The first phase you perform in the production environment. Use it to test the wider infrastructure, connectivity, and application compatibility.
• Broad deployment: One or more further deployment phases in the production environment, called rings. In Windows Autopatch, these rings are named first, fast, and broad. Eventually they target most of the estate.

For this module, the focus is on the pilot and broad deployment phases.

Helpful reports across the deployment phases

Windows diagnostic data provides the information used in Windows update compatibility reports, so you don’t need to install agents. You can use Microsoft Intune or Microsoft Configuration Manager (as appropriate) to deploy diagnostic data settings to the devices you want to include in reporting.

Suggested reports

Prerequisites for report use