Change Request for Windows hotfixes

[Lanz]

As sysadmins, if you dont automatically install and reboot via gpo, do you do complete change request procedures when applying standard patch tuesday hotfixes to your Windows servers?

Or do you just have a open ended change policy that ties in with WUS and a patch schedual that is known by everyone so you dont have to inform users/managers when a server is patched and restarted?

Im trying to finally get to grips with a decent patching procedure, and managers seems to want to sign off every bit of work nowdays, even the simplest tasks require a page of explaination and sign off - So I need to cover all bases in regards to change requests.

Thanks

 

[Lanz]

170 Servers, team of 3 people who manage them.

We have no test domain or the like, generally we have installed patches on the less important servers first to test, then over time the important ones finally get done Rinse and repeat....