From Set‑and‑Forget to Adaptable Automation: Continuing Our PSADT Journey
Last month, we shared an update on our journey towards a set‑and‑forget application deployment model, built on PSADT, Intune, and a subscription‑driven catalog. The focus was clear: reduce operational effort, remove manual touchpoints, and ensure applications stay current without repeated repackaging or redeployment.
In that update, we also hinted at two important developments:
PSADT script editing, allowing quick adjustments or modernisation without rebuilding packages from scratch
This month’s release builds directly on those ideas. Rather than diverging from the touchless vision, it strengthens it—by making automation more resilient, more transparent, and better suited to real‑world enterprise environments.
Touchless by Default, Adaptable by Design
Our north star remains unchanged: subscribing to an application should be all that’s required to deploy it via Intune and keep it up to date over time. New versions arrive, deployment logic evolves, and end users remain entirely unaware of the machinery behind the scenes.
However, as we noted in January, environments are rarely identical. Variations in:
Legacy dependencies
Co‑installed applications
Security tooling
Timing, reboot, or detection requirements
can all prevent an otherwise well‑packaged application from deploying successfully everywhere.
Historically, these edge cases forced teams to fork packages, rebuild installers, or abandon automated updates altogether. That breaks the subscription model and undermines the very efficiencies touchless deployment promises.
PSADT Editing: Preserving Automation Through Exception Handling
PSADT script editing allows targeted, per‑application adjustments to the deployment logic without having to rebuild the package from scratch. While edited packages still need to be re‑exported to Intune, this approach avoids full re‑packaging and preserves the existing structure and subscription context—a subtle but important distinction.
Rather than creating a one‑off variant of an app, teams can:
Add environment‑specific pre‑ or post‑install logic
Modernise older scripting patterns
Introduce additional checks or remediation steps
—all while remaining subscribed to the application.
The result is not less automation, but more durable automation.
From an end‑user perspective, nothing changes. Deployments remain silent and unattended. From an operational perspective, admins gain a controlled way to handle edge cases while continuing to receive future versions automatically.
This is why we see PSADT editing not as a deviation from touchless deployment, but as an enabler of it—keeping customers on the automated path rather than forcing them off it.
Strengthening the Subscription Model
Alongside PSADT editing, this release introduces a new subscription management screen, which plays a crucial role in scaling this approach.
As we move beyond simple “subscribe and deploy” workflows, visibility and governance become increasingly important.
The new experience makes it easier to:
Understand which applications are subscribed
See where and how they are deployed
Manage the lifecycle of those subscriptions with confidence
This becomes especially important as subscriptions begin to carry more intelligence—deployment logic, update behaviour, and now scoped customisations.
In short, as flexibility increases at the application level, subscription management provides the structure and clarity that keeps everything predictable and supportable.
Laying the Groundwork for March and Beyond
In last month’s blog, we outlined how February was focused on applying PSADT automation to patching, with March and beyond set to build on that foundation. This release represents an important step along that path—strengthening the core capabilities that will support automated deployment from the patch catalog, which is planned for a subsequent release later this month.
This release is a key stepping stone towards that future:
PSADT editing ensures automation can survive real‑world complexity
Improved subscription management provides the control plane needed to scale
Together, they allow us to move forward without compromising the set‑and‑forget vision.
As we look ahead, these capabilities will underpin:
Richer subscription behaviours
Smarter lifecycle management
Even greater confidence that subscribing once really does mean staying current forever
The Bigger Picture
Touchless deployment is not about removing all configuration—it’s about removing repeated effort.
By introducing intentional, scoped flexibility alongside stronger subscription management, we’re building a system that reflects how enterprises actually operate, while still delivering on the promise of automation.
Subscribe once. Adapt when needed. Stay automated.
That’s the journey we’re on—and this release moves us another important step forward.