SCCM Release Cadence Details and Changes

This article provides information about SCCM release cadence changes for Configuration Manager product. Microsoft introduced a new release cycle starting after the release of a Configuration Manager baseline version in 2303, pushing just two updates every year.

As Windows is moving to a once-a-year update model, Configuration Manager will be better aligning to that cadence by moving from three to two updates a year. This means you will get only two current branch updates every year instead of three updates. This change will come into effect after the release of Configuration Manager version 2303.

To help you understand better, after the release of SCCM 2303, the next current branch release will be in September 2023, which is ConfigMgr version 2309. Effectively, the xx07 and xx11 updates are being merged into a xx09 update. As per Microsoft, the consolidation of updates will roll up enhancements into this release. Another outcome of this change is reducing the number of deployments customers must manage annually.

By releasing two SCCM current branch updates per year, Microsoft believes that it will reduce ConfigMgr deployment management. SCCM administrators will have one less upgrade to do. This modification will enable Configuration Manager to continue releasing high-quality updates while having a longer development cycle to respond to important customer feature requests.

With SCCM release cadence in place and the longer development cycle, the Configuration Manager 2309 update will be able to address key customer asks around policy sync, software update troubleshooting, improved alerts, dashboarding, and more. Hotfix Rollups, OOB hotfixes, and security updates will continue to be made available as necessary to address any critical bugs.

SCCM Release Cadence Details and Changes

Here are some key aspects that sum up the changes to the SCCM release cadence.

• Starting in the year 2023, customers will now receive two releases of Configuration Manager, one in March (xx03), and another in September (xx09) rather than the previous release cadence of xx03, xx07, and xx11. 
• Baseline versions can be used to install a new Configuration Manager site and hierarchy, or to upgrade from a supported version of Configuration Manager. 2303, 2403, 2503, and subsequent releases will be baseline releases.  
• There will be four ConfigMgr Technical Preview (TP) releases per year.  Two will be released before each production current branch release, and one of Technical Preview release would be a baseline release. (TP Baseline are 180 days evaluation).