Comparison by task
How Bulk Changes Compare
Changing many users, mailboxes or devices 3 ways: a PowerShell script, the admin centres, and Altivane. How each shows the change first, and what it records.
Bulk changes with PowerShell, the admin centres and Altivane
| What matters | PowerShell | Admin centres | Altivane |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it can change | Whatever the account or app registration you connect with is allowed to do. | Whatever your admin roles allow. | What you chose for the tenant: Reports changes nothing, Helpdesk adds the Users page's changes, Manage the rest except SharePoint site changes, and Everything adds those. |
| Choosing the items | A filter in the script, or a CSV file it reads. | Select items in a list, where the page allows more than 1. | Filter an Explore page and select the check boxes, or every item from the column header. |
| Making the change | A cmdlet or Graph request in a loop you write. | The page's own action for the items selected, or 1 item at a time. | The toolbar, More or the right-click menu. The change's window takes its settings, such as a licence chosen from the tenant's products. |
| Before it runs | -WhatIf where a cmdlet supports it, and your own checks. |
A confirmation, where the admin centre asks for one. | A window shows the change, the items it applies to and the tenant. Nothing is sent until you select Run, and Enter never runs a change that blocks or removes something. |
| Trying it first | -WhatIf, or a run against a test tenant. |
The change applies when you confirm it. | A page's change runs when you select Run. To try one first, make it a workflow with New from a change, and test run it over a CSV file: the test run lists each change it would make, without making it. |
| From a CSV file | Import-Csv and a loop. |
Bulk operations for some tasks, such as creating users or adding group members in the Entra admin centre, from Microsoft's CSV template. | New from a change makes a workflow that reads a CSV file, makes the change for each row and exports the results. New users come from a CSV file of your own, or the admin centres' file. |
| When some fail | What your script catches and logs. | The admin centre's notification, or a results file for a bulk operation. | The message bar says why a change on 1 item failed, and the Output pane does for several. When Altivane can't tell whether a change went through, it never sends it again: it shows as failed, and the record stands. |
| A record of changes | What your script logs, and the tenant's audit log. | The tenant's audit log. | A change log on your computer for each tenant: the change, its target, the values before and after, the command, and who made it. Plus the tenant's audit log. |
| Doing it again | Run the script again, or schedule it with Task Scheduler. | The same clicks again. | Run the workflow again, or schedule it with Task Scheduler. A scheduled workflow is a test run unless its command line asks it to apply the changes. |
| Working with several clients | A loop in your script over the tenants it can connect to. | A separate sign-in or browser profile for each, or delegated admin links from Partner Center. | 1 tenant at a time, chosen in the Tenant box and named in every change window. A scheduled workflow goes through the tenants you select, 1 after another. |
| Best for | Logic of your own, or a change only a cmdlet makes. | A 1-off change to a few items in a tenant you're signed in to. | Routine changes to many items: shown before they run, recorded, and repeatable as a workflow. |
Altivane doesn't replace PowerShell or the admin centres: they reach what no ready-made change does. Every guide on this site shows its task all 3 ways.