By now most should know that Microsoft releases "Rollups" (RU) for CRM server and client side applications. These rollups traditionally called "Service Packs" (SP) by other systems, in the past have been applied in a very manual way. Starting with the release of CRM 2011, updates can now be handled in two ways. One is your traditional manual way on both the client and server-side. A CRM/IT administrator can go the Microsoft download site and download the updates for each component installed. Thus far for CRM 2011 all roll-up components have been cumulative, so all that needs to be done is to install the most recent roll-up. Microsoft has currently released RU3 which can be found here.
Now to the automated way. With CRM 2011, CRM updates (both client and server-side) are done through Windows updates. This makes it very simple to get updates out to users. This automatic update is released approximately 30 days after the release of the roll-up on the Microsoft Download site. This morning for example I received RU3 in my Windows update on my laptop- nice surprise.
I would suggest testing updates once released against your customizations to know if the auto updates are going to cause any issues. Microsoft is on a schedule to release roll-ups every 60 days or sooner. In the fall 2011 we will see a major release from Microsoft with feature enhancements to the system (bigger than a RU/SP for sure). If you are wondering on the client side what update you have installed, go to File, CRM and click on "About Microsoft Dynamics CRM". You will see the window below and you can compare it to the chart below.
| |
Release Date |
Version # |
| Rollup 1 |
4/4/2011 |
5.00.9688.1045 |
| Rollup 2 |
6/6/2011 |
5.00.9688.1155 |
| Rollup 3 |
7/26/2011 |
5.00.9688.1244 |