Home > Google Workspace Handbook > User Management > How to Properly Set Up Organizational Units in Google Workspace
Organizational Units in Google Workspace are one of the key aspects of user management. As we already know, user management implies managing the digital identities of employees in an organization. This way, Organizational Units help super admins in separating users into groups with deeply customizable features that allow you to enhance monitoring, and adjust them depending on their department in an organization.
In this article you will learn:
Organizational units are a way to organize users and apply different settings to them in Google Workspace. They are similar to folders in a file system, where each user can belong to only one organizational unit. OUs can be set up based on departments, locations, or other criteria, allowing administrators to manage access, policies, and settings for different groups within the organization. OUs provide a hierarchical structure that reflects the organization’s organizational and functional structure, making it easier to apply policies and permissions consistently across different teams or departments.
Organizational Units in Google Workspace provide a broad number of benefits that may significantly streamline a range of organizational processes. Here are 4 key benefits of Organization Units:
Customizing services and features: You have the flexibility to choose which services and features are available to specific users. This means you can enable services like Gmail for some users while disabling it for others, ensuring that each group gets the functionality they need.
Enhancing security: You have the power to set different security policies and access levels for different user groups. For example, you can enforce additional layers of security like two-step verification or restrict sign-in locations for certain users. This helps maintain a secure environment while offering appropriate access to different groups.
Delegating administrative roles: You can delegate administrative roles and permissions to different groups of users. This means certain users can be trusted to manage user accounts or groups within their organizational unit, streamlining administrative responsibilities and ensuring efficient management.
Applying personalized Chrome policies and device settings: You can apply specific Chrome policies and device settings to different user groups. For instance, you can allow some users to install extensions or apps on their Chrome devices while restricting this privilege for others. This allows for a more tailored and customizable experience based on user needs and preferences.
This set of capabilities allows you to cater to the specific requirements, preferences, and security needs of different user groups within your organization, enhancing efficiency and personalization.
To create and manage organizational units, you need to sign in to the Google Admin console and go to the Organizational Units section. You can create up to 5,000 organizational units per domain, and nest them up to 20 levels deep. You can also move users between organizational units, or change the settings of an organizational unit at any time.
To create or add a new organizational unit you need to follow the steps:
The process of adding new users to organizational units is performed through the ‘Users’ section, to do that you need to:
To move the existing users from one organizational unit to another, you need to:
Deleting users from your organizational units is not the same as suspending them. These are two different functionalities. ‘Suspend user’ means that the user’s data will be kept, but they won’t receive emails, calendar invitations, or files as long as they’re suspended. They can also be restored at any moment. Deleting users implies total removal. While Google charges you for the suspended users, it’s not the case when it come to the deleted users. To delete users from your organizational units, you need to follow the steps:
Google Workspace Organizational Units allow you to create a deeply customizable organizational structure with several levels of parent and child organizational units. This way, you can build a very flexible hierarchy. To manage your organizational structure, you need to:
One of the key features of Google Workspace Organizational Units is their ability to be set up for customizable access to applications. To control app access for different organizational units you need to:
Google Workspace Organizational Units allow you to update user data in a hassle-free way. Instead of manually entering the data. Fill in a .csv file and upload it to your Google Admin Console. Here’s how you can do it:
Summing it up, User Management enables administrators to grant access and manage user access while keeping digital assets secure.
User management software helps organizations gain productivity, security, and cost savings by automating user management processes.
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