SOP: How to Run Monthly WordPress, Plug-in, and Theme Updates

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We’ll review how to run monthly WordPress updates, including WordPress themes and plugins.

Outcomes:

  1. Ensure our client’s WordPress websites, plugins, and themes are up-to-date and the sites work as intended.
  2. Ensure the security of our client’s websites, avoiding hacks, exploits, or malware.
  3. Keep our team and the client updated if any action items are required from them.

Time Needed to Complete Tasks:

15 to 45 minutes

Steps to Complete.

  1. Consider where to run the plugin and theme updates. Staging or production. In most cases, we run these updates on production, but we take a backup that will allow us to revert quickly if needed.
  2. Take a backup of the website. Name the backup so it’s easy to identify later, e.g., 202302-before-monthly-updates.
  3. If active development work is being done on staging, consult with the Account Manager to see where updates should occur.
  4. Login to the WordPress admin. You can do this from the WPengine admin panel by selecting the client, the site, and the instance (production) and then clicking the WP Admin link at the top.
  5. Note if there are updates to WordPress, plugins, and/or themes.
  6. Update the Theme in the WordPress. If any errors occur, copy and paste errors, and take screenshots. If the upgrade completes successfully, move to the next step.
  7. Check a few pages on the site to be sure the site has no layout or visual issues. If you find issues, revert to the backup and see if the issues exist there. If they don’t, consult with the Account Manager. If the issue exists on the backup, it wasn’t related to the plugin update, and you’ll need to work with the Account Manager to solve it.
  8. Update the Plugins in the WordPress. If any errors occur, copy and paste errors, and take screenshots. If the upgrade completes successfully, move to the next step.
  9. Check a few pages on the site where the plugin is used. For example, test the Contact Form if you’ve updated a Contact Form plugin. Or, if a page builder, you’ll want to test the page builder. If you find issues, revert to the backup and see if the issues exist there. If they don’t, consult with the Account Manager. If the issue exists on the backup, it wasn’t related to the plugin update, and you’ll need to work with the Account Manager to solve it.
  10. Update the WordPress version if needed.
  11. Notify the Account Manager with the following info.
    • Was the update run on production or staging?
    • What updates were run?
    • Are the updates live?
    • Have the updates been tested? Were there any issues?
    • Was the WordPress version updated? From what to what version?
    • Are there any issues we should note?
    • Total time used to make updates and tests.
  12. Update X task related to monthly updates in [insert project or task management system].
  13. Other steps.

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