MECM - SCCM - Targeted Software Deployment

This tutorial goes through creating a dynamic device collections based on a SQL Query and then targeting a software deployment for that group. For instance, the example will show define a query for all computers running Firefox 24.2.0 or lower version and creating a dynamic group from that query. A software deployment will automatically install a newer version of the software package.

Create Query

1. You'll need to click the monitoring tile from the left sidebar in the MECM console. Right-click the Query item and select Create Query.
   
   
2. You need to give the query a name and then click the Edit Query Statement... button.
   
   
3. We are going to need to specify some criteria for our query. Click the left most button to the right of the criteria label. This will open the Criterion Properties windows. For this example we'll select Simple Value as the Criterion type and Installed Applications - Display Name in the Where: field. The Operator field should be is like and the value is %Mozilla Firefox%. The % symbol is used as a wild card.
   
   
4. Click the Criterion Properties button again and to add a second item. Select Simple Value as the Criterion type and Installed Applications - Display Name in the Where: field. The Operator field should be less than or equal to and the Value: field should be 24.2.0. Note that clicking the Value... button would give you a list of version values that MECM has collected already from the installed versions of software on all the client machines.
   
   
5. Now note that for the query to return results, both of the conditions specified must be met.
   
   
6. You can choose your query to be limited to a specific collection or not. In this example we will not be limiting the collection.

Create Collection Based on Query

1. The next step is to create a new collection based on the query we just created. Click the Assets and Compliance tile and then right-click the Device Collection item from the left sidebar.
   
   
2. Give the collection and name and select a limited collection.
   
   
3. Click the Import Query Statement... button and select the query rule that you had created earlier. Give the Query Rule a name. You can choose to use incremental updates for this collection.
   
   
4. Click Next until you are done.

Set the Software Deployment

See the page on software deployment. Simply set the software deployment to deploy to the dynamic group you've just created. As new computers with older versions of the software are added to the dynamic group, they will automatically receive an updated version of the software.

See Also

• Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM) Landing Page
• MECM - SCCM - Creating Queries
• MECM - SCCM - Application Creation
• MECM - SCCM - Create a Deployment