The invention relates to upgrading software or firmware in a network. The invention simplify the process of upgrading the software or firmware by using a drag and drop mechanism. Accordingly, with the help of a user-friendly GUI, a user initiates the process of upgrading by dragging and dropping a software icon onto a device icon. The software icon may represent the software to be used for upgrading and the device icon may represent a network device including the software or firmware that is to be upgraded. A set of checks is performed during the process of upgrading. The set of checks includes checking the compatibility of the software used for upgrading with the network device.