• Critical On Demand (COD) – a specific fix provided to a small number of customers affected by a critical problem
  • Public Update (PU) – includes security fixes and fixes for problems that affect a broad number of customers
  • Cumulative Updates (CU) – includes fixes for problems reported through support cases
  • Service Pack (SP) – Accumulation of CUs, PUs, earlier SPs, and may include new fixes and new functionality
  • TechNet Library of SharePoint Updates – list of latest updates for 2013 and 2010

Critical On Demand (COD)

  • Includes specific fix for specific problem
  • Requires the CU used as baseline to create COD
  • Install only if instructed to by Microsoft
  • Released on demand

Public Update (PU)

  • Includes security fixes and fixes for other problems
  • Requires the oldest supported SP
  • Install as soon as possible after evaluating it
  • Released once a month if required

Cumulative Update (CU)

  • Includes all previous CUs and PUs
  • Requires the oldest supported SP
  • Install as soon as possible after evaluating it
  • Released monthly

Service Pack (SP)

  • Includes all previous CUs, PUs, SPs, new fixes and new functionality
  • Usually no prerequisites for applying SPs
  • Install as soon as possible after evaluating it
  • No specific release cycle