Automate 5 Essential Google Workspace Tasks with GAT Labs

As a Google admin, your days are filled with juggling various tasks within Google Workspace. From user onboarding and security to data management and group administration, these responsibilities are crucial but can also be repetitive and time-consuming. Here’s where automation comes in as a game-changer. 

By automating routine processes, you can streamline your workflow, free up valuable time, and ensure greater accuracy and consistency.

This blog post dives into five everyday Google Workspace tasks you can automate with GAT Labs, taking your admin efficiency to the next level:

---

---

1. Automate User Provisioning and Onboarding

Creating and configuring user accounts for new hires can be tedious. Automating user provisioning eliminates manual data entry, ensures new users have the necessary access from day one, and streamlines the onboarding process.

GAT Labs Advantage:

• ✔️ Automate User Management Tasks: GAT Flow covers everything. From welcome emails and email signatures to pre-loading files, pre-populating contacts and much more

• ✔️ Automated Group Assignments: Define groups based on department or role, and GAT Flow can automatically assign new users to the appropriate groups upon account creation.

Simplified Guide to Onboarding with GAT Flow

---

---

GAT Flow allows you to create workflows for onboarding new users by setting up the necessary actions and approvals. Once set up, these workflows can be saved as action sets and reused for future onboarding processes, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

Here’s a simple example of the process:

1. Create Workflow: Navigate to Flow -> Create Workflow, enter the workflow name, set the type to Onboarding, and proceed.

2. Set Up Actions: Add necessary actions like creating a user, assigning groups, and sending a welcome email.

3. Send for Approval: Submit the workflow for security officer approval to ensure compliance and security.

By following these steps, you can automate the onboarding process and ensure new users are set up with the correct permissions and resources from day one. For detailed step-by-step instructions, please visit our Knowledge Base article

---

---

2. Automate Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Data breaches are a critical concern. Automating DLP with workflow tools allows you to set rules that identify and prevent sensitive data from being shared externally. This proactive approach safeguards your organisation’s confidential information.

GAT Labs Advantage:

• ✔️ Customisable DLP Rules: Create custom DLP rules to identify and prevent the sharing of any sensitive data specific to your organisation.

• ✔️ Automated Alerts and Remediation: Set up automated alerts for DLP violations, allowing for swift intervention and remediation.

Setting Up Google Drive DLP Alerts with GAT+

GAT+ provides an extensive and detailed overview of the entire Google Workspace domain, including Drive audit capabilities which allow a global and detailed view of Google Drive. Our tool provides an alternative solution to Google Admin Console alerting, called Alert Rules.

To enhance your data loss prevention, GAT+ offers robust alert rules for Google Drive activities. 

Types of Alerts in GAT+:

• ✔️ Applications
• ✔️ Emails
• ✔️ Drive
• ✔️ YouTube
• ✔️ Mobile devices
• ✔️ Users
• ✔️ User Logins

Drive Alert Rules:

These rules are based on various activities, such as:

• ✔️ The number of files downloaded per day
• ✔️ The number of files shared out per day
• ✔️ Alert if the regex matches newly shared out files (Google native files, PDF, and TXT files)
• ✔️ Alert if the “share to” address matches a specific pattern

To learn more about Google Drive DLP Alerts, visit our Knowledge Base article

---

---

3. Automate Security Compliance

Maintaining compliance with security regulations can be complex. While Google Workspace offers audit logs, manual analysis can be time-consuming. GAT+ automates tasks to streamline compliance:

GAT Labs Advantage:

• ✔️ Automated Security Audits: Schedule automated security audits to identify potential compliance gaps at regular intervals.

• ✔️ Custom Tags: Custom Tags can be created by the Admin and assigned to specific data sets for Drive files and Emails. This allows for precise categorisation and easier filtering of important data. By marking files and emails with custom tags, organisations can streamline their auditing and reporting processes, ensuring that sensitive information is easily identifiable and managed appropriately.

To learn more about Custom Tags, visit our Knowledge Base article

---

---

4. Automate Group Management

Managing complex user groups for access and permissions within Google Workspace can be complex. Automating group management tasks minimises errors and streamlines the process.

GAT Labs Advantage:

Meet GAT Flow’s ‘Groups‘ Module! This powerful feature allows Google Workspace Admins to make multiple changes to their Google Groups efficiently through the Groups audit section in Flow.

• ✔️ Audit Groups: With the Groups module, you can easily manage all your Google Groups.

• ✔️ Flow Dynamic Group: Enable this feature to convert an existing group into a dynamic group or create a new dynamic group based on the existing one.

• ✔️ Manage Aliases: Enter and manage aliases for your selected group.

• ✔️ Member Management: View and configure group members, roles, and states with ease.

• ✔️ Email Signature Setup: Set up the email signature for the group using HTML code. You can utilise the Classic editor, HTML editor, or any of our Signature templates.

---

---

5. Automate Password Resets

Lost passwords disrupt user productivity and require IT intervention. Google Workspace offers self-service password reset options, but GAT Shield provides additional features:

GAT Labs Advantage:

• ✔️ Delete App-Specific Passwords: GAT Flow allows administrators to delete app-specific passwords for users. This action can be applied to offboard and modify workflows, including event and recurring workflows. 

• ✔️ Change User Passwords in Bulk: GAT Flow allows Google Workspace admins to change passwords for multiple users simultaneously. You can choose individual users, groups, or organisational units, or import users from a spreadsheet for this purpose.

Final Thoughts

Automating repetitive tasks with GAT Labs helps Google Workspace admins to become heroes of efficiency. By automating processes, you can free up valuable time, minimise errors, and ensure a more secure and productive work environment for your organisation. 

Ready to unlock the power of automation for your Google Workspace? Try GAT Labs for free and explore how we can help you streamline your admin experience.