Before beginning a monthly cycle, you'll usually have some cleanup to do from the previous month and activitie to be sure you're ready for the next month. Details will always depend on how you manage updates at your company, but here are some possible activities.
Prior Month Cleanup
Check the compliance rate for the prior month's updates, and address any significant issues.
If you roll each month's updates into a cumulative deployment package for baseline maintenance and reporting, you should do that after reaching an acceptable compliance rate. Ideally that's before starting the next month's cycle, but that won't always be true.
If you must continue monitoring last month's updates during the next cycle, identify the reports that will be appropriate to use. Identify the effect these ongoing activities might have on the reports you usually monitor for current month activities. Be certain you can produce the reports that may be needed for each separate month's activities or the combined total, based on your normal reporting.
Verify Pilot Test and Exception Lists
If you have lists of pilot testers and/or exception machines that get special handling, make sure your data is current and reflects all changes during the last month.
Check Client Health Status
Check the overall client health status, and assure that someone is following up on any issues. You may want to report the percentage to your management, as it establishes the maximum compliance rate possible.
Verify Server Data
If you are responsible for patching servers, you're likely to have them divided into collections to reflect different deployment schedules or reboot handling. Make certain all servers are in the proper collections, particularly ones created during the past month.