MSP vs. CTP vs. YearEnd patching

Hi folks - new Lawson administrator here in a company that's had some turnover. I'm interested in any resources or previous posts you can direct me to that give a bit of context and direction on the best patching policies, and what all of the different Lawson patching acronyms means. I'm swimming in questions about when to apply CTPs (and what they are), when to apply MSPs (and what they are), and if MSPs (or CTPs) are different from required year-end updates. We are on 10.0.09 and not yet on ADFS and are trying to understand when/if this might be required by other requisite patching before we go to v.11. Thanks so much for any of your generous knowledge!

Frances

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lmerrill

CTPs are individual application patches. My understanding is a bunch of ctps are clubbed together and released as an MSP either once a year or once in 2 years. I only apply ctps when needed. For eg, if there is an application bug and you open a ticket with support, they recommend to apply a ctp. At that time, I apply it. As for MSP, Infor has an N-2 support policy. Meaning if you are on MSP5 and Infor releases MSP7, then MSP5 is no longer supported. At that time I apply the latest MSP. In addition to CTPs and MSPs, Infor releases mandatory year end pathches. I apply them, at year end. Similar to CTPs, there are environment patches as well, which I apply as necessary, when Infor recommends. Similar to MSPs, there are ESPs (Environment service packs) as well. Those also, I follow the N-2 policy.

plancor

From my understanding, you will not be able to apply new environment patches (these include security fixes) unless you are AD FS with environment 10.0.10+. AD FS can be implemented at env 10.0.9 but you will not be able to apply any new env patches. This could potentially leave you vulnerable to security holes.

0712131256598360.doc

unknown

You can still apply environment updates if you are on 10.0.9 with ADFS.

plancor

We are on env 10.0.10, so I can't confirm or deny that is true. I do know that I was told by a senior Infor technical analyst that you could not apply new ESPs at 10.0.9 without AD FS. That may have meant that it's not supported, but in either case, that is a risky practice.

unknown

Do the year-end patches have any application or environment pre-requisites? Thanks.

lmerrill

I have been applying the AP year end patch for the past few years and haven't had to apply any app or env pre-requisites.

Configuration Console - Overview.pdf

unknown

The AP year-end patch is specifically an application patch, which updates only the W-2 and 1099 programs and supporting screens. This is not a full patch. Therefore it is much easier to apply. Also it does not touch the Environment.

unknown

My apologies, the AP patch only updates the 1099 screens. The W-2 year-end patch is for HR only. I haven't done either of these for years, thank goodness, so I'm a little delayed in my recall.

unknown

Got it, thanks @sreedevi-potluri and @tsukroff - so when folks refer to year-end patching for Lawson Financials, is the AP Year End patch the extent of that?

unknown

There is a major patch (MSP) every quarter. Each one contains all prior CTP's. But the AP year-end patch is different, because it has only the 1099 changes. About this: Usually it's announced in November. First availability is in early December. Then it's re-issued as problems are solved. By the middle of January, usually, the 'final' AP year-end patch is issued. When I was doing these, I was applying the patch 2 or 3 times in order to keep up. But 1099's weren't run until the last day possible (less 2 days for trouble, Murphy be its name).

unknown

Thanks Milo, this is really helpful. And to clarify, the MSPs are the Master Service Packs, which update the application (not environment)? And is it applying MSPs that alters the version number (ex. 10.0.9 -> 10.0.10)?

lmerrill

10.0.9, 10.0.10 are environment versions. For msp, the only way I know is to execute the command dbdef at a LID command prompt, pick the product line, and there you will see the msp against each system code.

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