# Dry-Run First: Safer Autodesk Admin Changes

Blog / Safety



Bulk writes should not begin with a leap of faith. A dry-run should explain target scope, skipped rows, expected writes, and review risk.

July 9, 2026 5 min read Article

The risky part of bulk administration is usually uncertainty, not the API call itself. Are these the right projects? Is the email correct? Is this a role update or a removal? Is the app authorized in the same account the operator is viewing?

A dry-run should reduce those questions before the first write. Treat it as a review document, not a decorative confirmation screen.

A quiet safety ladder for account-admin operations

- **1** — Read account context
- **2** — Normalize users and roles
- **3** — Validate project targets
- **4** — Preview row outcomes
- **5** — Write in bounded batches
- **6** — Record item results

## What a dry-run should answer

A useful dry-run gives the operator enough information to stop before damage happens. It should describe the planned operation in operational language, not just API language.

-   Which projects will be touched?
-   Which users are already present, missing, or inactive?
-   Which rows would be skipped and why?
-   How many write actions would run if the operator confirms?
-   Which account or hub authorization is being used?

## Separate read, preview, and write permissions

Read-only review should be cheap and frequent. Writes should require a clearer path: valid credentials, authorized integration, visible project set, and a bounded batch size. This separation makes the admin workflow less brittle.

## Cap the blast radius

Batch limits are a design tool. They force large changes into visible chunks, which makes progress easier to understand and failures easier to recover from. The cap should be high enough for real work, but low enough that a mistake is still explainable.

## Audit trail closes the loop

After execution, the question changes from "what will happen?" to "what happened?" Store enough detail to reconstruct the decision: target projects, submitted rows, skipped rows, API failures, retry attempts, and final result.

**Reference points:** [ACC hub admin tutorial](https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/acc/v1/tutorials/admin) and [BIM 360 API access setup](https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/bim360/v1/tutorials/getting-started/manage-access-to-docs/).

**Related reading**

[Barvinca MCP](/mcp.md) [AI connection guide](/help/mcp.md) [Setup guide](/setup.md) [Getting started](/help/getting-started.md) [Bulk User Manager docs](/help/bulk-user-manager.md) [Support policy](/support.md)

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