Q: In what order should I upgrade System Center 2012 components to System Center 2012 SP1?

Orchestrator - Upgrade Orchestrator first, as it can support both the RTM and SP1 Integration Packs for the rest of System Center 2012 side-by-side, and forms the foundation of most of the System Center 2012 integration.

Service Manager - Service Manager 2012 SP1 connectors are backward compatible (but not forward compatible), enabling Service Manager to be upgraded and maintain connectivity to the rest of System Center 2012.

Data Protection Manager  - DPM can actually go before Service Manager as there is no link between DPM and Service Manager, but DPM must go after Orchestrator, so its SP1 Integration Pack is supported, and must go before Operations Manager to maintain continued Operations Manager central console support.

Operations Manager - The existing Management Pack for Orchestrator, Service Manager, and DPM works when those components are upgraded to SP1, so Operations Manager can be upgraded after them. However, Operations Manager must be upgraded before Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) (the connection to VMM will need to be removed and re-established after the Operations Manager upgrade).

Configuration Manager - This one must be upgraded before VMM, because VMM requires Windows Server 2012 and you need to be able to deploy and patch Windows Server 2012.

VMM and App Controller - These two must be upgraded at the same time, because of the dependency between App Controller and VMM, and must be after everything else as they require Windows Server 2012.