A method, system, and computer readable storage medium for managing the deployment of software patch updates on a plurality of computers in an enterprise computer network during a patch cycle wherein each computer receives and installs periodic software patch updates automatically. An inventory is maintained of the computers in a central database that stores a status of each computer for each patch during the patch cycle. The computers are filtered into at least one filter group and a list of computers in the filter group is displayed along with the status for each patch. The status of each patch is verified and displayed for each computer in the filter group. A controlled software patch update is performed for each non-compliant computer in the filter group. A controlled reboot of each computer in the filter group is performed following the completion of the software patch updates for the patch cycle.