Check your organization’s G Suite settings to make sure that they reflect the company’s user, device, and app needs.
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G Suite administrators process all kinds of routine changes, add new accounts and allow new devices to connect when people join an organization, authorize apps for additional solutions and make adjustments when people leave, devices go out of service whether the need for apps passes.
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Sometimes an account, device or connected app stays active longer than it should. If a G Suite administrator is out of the office or busy with other urgent tasks, these routine changes may be postponed or overlooked and the risk of delay increases when the G Suite administrator is a part-time job and not a full-time job .
A sensible manager periodically reviews the settings of the G Suite administrator console and must schedule assessments when other work requirements are light, such as during a break or holiday season. For example, you might consider the following tasks as an essential part of your year-end routine. A detailed assessment can take a lot of time, especially if your organization consists of a large number of people, devices or apps.
You need a G Suite administrator account with access to your organization’s G Suite administrator console and you want to ensure that you have organizational approval for all the changes you make.
SEE: G Suite: tips and tricks for business professionals (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
1. How to rate users
View the list of user accounts to ensure that active accounts match the group of people they should have. Select Users in the Admin Console and view the list of accounts. To pause and / or delete accounts that are not needed, place your cursor in the row of the account that you want to adjust, select More and then Pause. Do not select Delete if you may want to keep data from that account.
In a larger organization with hundreds or thousands of accounts, you can export the account list to a spreadsheet, making it easier to compare it with an active list of employees obtained elsewhere (for example human resources or accounting / payroll). Select Download Users (above the account list) to export the list. You can export currently selected columns or all user info columns to a Google spreadsheet or a comma-separated value file (Figure A).
Figure A
For multiple user accounts, select Download Users and export the list to a Google spreadsheet.
2. How to assess devices
An assessment of G Suite devices allows you to remove devices that do not require access to organization data. In the Admin Console, select Devices and then Mobile Devices to view a list of Android and Apple devices and associated user accounts. You can sort the list by Last Sync to easily identify older devices that are no longer in use (Figure B).
Once you have identified devices that you want to remove, you can take action to protect organization data, if applicable. Based on the device and the type of mobile management options that your organization uses, the options can allow you to erase organization data from a device or block or completely erase a device.
Figure B
View Devices in the G Suite Administrator Console to see if there are any devices that need to be removed.
3. How to rate apps
View G Suite apps, additional Google services, Marketplace apps, and apps that are linked via Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to identify apps that are no longer needed. Select Apps from the administrator’s home screen and then explore each app group. Click the three-dot vertical menu to the right of a displayed app to select an option, such as Disable for All, or to remove organizational access.
SEE: How administrators can manage mobile devices with G Suite (TechRepublic)
Figure C
Select and view all apps to ensure they are needed in your organization.
4. View settings
Check the settings for each app to ensure that the configuration meets the needs of your organization. New app features sometimes offer new app settings, so adjust them for each of the app groups (G Suite, Additional Google services, Marketplace apps, and SAML apps). Pay close attention to settings that affect sharing, such as those for Google Drive data, Calendar sharing, or Gmail delegation.
5. How to deal with announced changes
Sometimes Google makes changes that may require action from G Suite administrators, account holders, or both. For example, in August 2019, Google announced a timeline for the transition from traditional Hangouts to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, with the transition from mid-2020. Similarly, a support page for Cloud Print indicates that it will not be supported by the end of 2020. If you rely on one of these services, view the announced changes and plan accordingly.
Your practices?
If you use G Suite, how many times a year do you rate the users, devices, apps and app settings of your organization? Which time of the year works best for this assessment and which adjustments or updates do you usually have to make or change? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter (@awolber).
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