Managing and Optimizing Google Workspace License Information

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Flexera SaaS Management’s Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) integration now helps Software Asset Managers (SAMs) differentiate between different Google Workspace plans used by an organization’s users. You can optimize Google Workspace license spend and license usage through several new features: Auto-Populated Google Workspace License Information, Managing Available Google Workspace Licenses, Analyzing Google Workspace Users Activity Data, and Reclaiming Google Workspace Licenses. Several API Endpoints have been added to the Google Workspace integration instructions. The Application Task Tracking Chart lists the available SaaS Management integration features for Google Workspace.

Prerequisites before Integrating Google Workspace with SaaS Management

Ensure the following prerequisites are enabled before integrating with SaaS Management.

• Super Administrator Role
• Google Workspace API Permissions
• Google Cloud Project and Enabling Google Workspace APIs

Super Administrator Role

For new and existing Google integrations with SaaS Management, the Super Administrator role is required to grant the API permissions for calling the Admin APIs. For details, refer to the Google Workspace Admin Help documentation Pre-Built Administrator Roles.

Google Workspace API Permissions

The table below describes the required Google Workspace API permissions for each SaaS Management integration task.

Table -1 • Required Google Workspace API Permissions for SaaS Management Integration Tasks

Permission	Description	Integration Task Name
admin.directory.user.readonly	To retrieve the User list and their details from the Google Workspace account. For details, refer to the Google Workspace Admin SDK documentation Directory API: Authorize Requests.	Application Roster
admin.reports.usage.readonly	To retrieve reports of total license count and Gmail user activity.	Application Access License Information
apps.licensing	To retrieve user license details from the Google Workspace account and to reclaim user licenses.	Application Access License Information Reclamation

Google Cloud Project and Enabling Google Workspace APIs

Before integrating Google Workspace with SaaS Management, create a Google Cloud project and enable the Google Workspace APIs in your Google Cloud project via the Google Console. For details, refer to the Google Workspace integration instructions.

Auto-Populated Google Workspace License Information

The SaaS Management integration with Google Workspace offers a License Information integration task that automatically retrieves every 24 hours the name of the Google Workspace license type and total allowed number for specific licenses. For a list of Google Workspace licenses supported by SaaS Management, refer to the License Types section of the Google Workspace integration instructions.

The value for the SaaS Management # of Items Allowed field (Total License Count) in the Licenses Tab is retrieved via the SaaS Management License Information API for the following Google Workspace Licenses. All other Google Workspace licenses require manual entry of the # of Items Allowed value in SaaS Management.

• Enterprise Essentials
• Enterprise Starter
• Enterprise Standard
• Enterprise Plus

Important • Every 24 hours, the SaaS Management License Information integration task retrieves license information from the Google Workspace admin console and updates the SaaS Management database with data from 4 days prior (Example: When the License Information API retrieves data on 13 September 2022, the data retrieved is from 9 September 2022). Due to the limitation of the License Information API, the latest data cannot be extracted. Therefore, the License Total Count value in the Google Workspace admin console may not match the # of Items Allowed value in the Licenses Tab of SaaS Management. 

Managing Available Google Workspace Licenses

Once the License Information integration task for Auto-Populated Google Workspace License Information is enabled, you can add or remove the Google Workspace product licenses you wish to manage within SaaS Management. For more details, refer to the Google Workspace integration instructions.

Analyzing Google Workspace Users Activity Data

User activity data such as user activity type, time of occurrence, and user last login are tracked in SaaS Management for the Google Workspace applications listed in the table below. For further details of the tracked activities, refer to the Google Workspace Admin SDK documentation section Method: activities.list.

Note the following:

• Due to the limitation of the License Information API, the latest Gmail user activity cannot be extracted. Gmail user activity data displayed in SaaS Management is from 4 days prior.
• During the first run of the Application Access task, Flexera One pulls data for only the last 10 days.

Table -2 • Google Workspace Applications Tracked in SaaS Management for User Activity

Calendar	GCP	Google Meet
Chat	Gmail	Jamboard
Currents (Google+)	Google Drive	Keep

Reclaiming Google Workspace Licenses

SaaS Management’s SaaS license reclamation workflow offers SAMs the ability to optimize their organization’s Google Workspace licenses. Once the reclamation task is executed for the selected users, the user licenses are reclaimed. Users are no longer tracked in the Activity tab within SaaS Management. To reclaim a Google Workspace user’s license, refer to Reclaiming SaaS Licenses.

API Endpoints

For a list of API endpoints for each SaaS Management integration task, refer to the Google Workspace integration instructions.

Application Task Tracking Chart

The Application Task Tracking chart includes the following integration features for Google Workspace:

• Application Access
• Application Roster
• License Differentiation
• License Information
• Reclamation

Additional Resources:

More information on new features and enhancements can be found in What's New in Flexera One.