Abstract: A method and system of automating service updates to network elements is disclosed. The system determines the right network element for service updates without impacting network operations. Maintenance Regions (MR)that have similar maintenance behavior/constraints are defined. Each MR is associated with a Maintenance Policy (MP). A Maintenance Policy captures information on the best time to perform service impacting actions. MP is a set of time related rules with an expiry. Before an update, software compatibility for the network element is confirmed. The NE (Network Element) provides its geographical location and NE neighbor information is then captured. Once obtained, this information is used in an algorithm that at any given time can select the preferred candidate network element to receive the service impacting action (like a software upgrade). Then based on capacity of running parallel activities the algorithm performs an optimized and maximum number of actions simultaneously.