What is the difference between a client and a tenant?
A tenant is the Microsoft 365 organisation. A client is that tenant as Avvi knows it, with your settings on top.
A tenant is a Microsoft 365 organisation. It exists whether or not Avvi has heard of it, and Microsoft owns the definition.
A client is that tenant as Avvi knows it: the tenant plus everything you have set on top, including consent, usage caps, which of their groups can do what, and the record of everything done for them.
Adding a client does not create a tenant. It creates Avvi’s side of a relationship with one that already exists.
How it works
Adding a client asks for the tenant’s identifier, which is how Avvi knows which Microsoft organisation you mean.
Everything else about the client is Avvi’s. Removing the client removes that side and leaves the tenant untouched.
Your own organisation has a tenant too, and it appears as a client of yours in the same way. That is why chat works against it without multi-tenant access.
The distinction matters most when something is wrong. A problem with the tenant is Microsoft’s; a problem with the client is usually yours.
Good to know
Two clients cannot share one tenant identifier. An attempt to add a tenant already present is refused rather than duplicated.
Removing a client deletes its conversations and its user records permanently. Avvi’s record of what was actually done for them is kept, so the history of changes survives the removal.
Nothing at the client’s own end changes, and neither does anything you did in their Microsoft 365.
What to do next
To add a Microsoft organisation to Avvi, add it as a client and supply the tenant identifier.
To change what Avvi may do in that organisation, that is consent, which is granted on their side.
To change what your team may do with it, that is your own access groups.
FAQ
Q: Does removing a client change anything in their Microsoft 365?
A: No. It removes their conversations and user records from Avvi, and keeps the record of what was done.
Q: Can I have the same tenant as two clients?
A: No. The identifier has to be unique.
Q: Is my own organisation a client?
A: It behaves as one, and it skips the checks that apply to other people’s.
Related pages
Add a client to Avvi is where a tenant becomes a client, which is the distinction this page draws.