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New Updates to Google Apps Admin Console Provide More Intuitive Reporting Capabilities

BetterCloud Monitor

May 28, 2014

3 minute read

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Today, Google released new reporting functionality as well as a major UI overhaul to the reporting section of the Google Apps Admin Console. New capabilities, a streamlined designed and a step by step introductory guide make the process of reporting on and auditing Google Apps accounts more seamless for Google Apps administrators. This update undoubtedly increases the overall value of Google Apps, especially from IT’s perspective, while effectively handling some of the objections prospective customers often have about the Google Apps platform.

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While this new functionality does expose a lot of new information for administrators, it doesn’t allow them to take action and make changes in most cases. Through features like Apps Explorer and Drive Sharing Policies, FlashPanel enables Google Apps administrators to take corrective action as soon as they see a violation of company policy (such as a publicly shared Drive file, or malicious third-party application). In fact, administrators can even set a policy to run on a regular schedule and make these corrections automatically, or notify the administrator of violations.

New Admin Console features include:

Marketplace Apps Login

Administrators can now view Google Apps Marketplace applications accessed by users within their domain including which applications a particular user is accessing and when.

While this new functionality provides vast information about which third-party applications are being used and by whom, administrators who want to whitelist or blacklist certain applications or create policies allowing the use of certain applications by certain users will still need a management and security suite, like FlashPanel.

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To access this new functionality, head to the Admin Console > Reporting > Audit > Marketplace Apps Login.

Detailed Login Information

To ramp up security, a new Admin Console feature allows administrators to view detailed information about user logins including email address, IP address, time, and reason for any login errors – like an invalid password. Alerts can also be set for suspicious login activity, giving the IT department peace of mind when it comes to securing their Google Apps domain.

You can view detailed login information in Audit > Login.

Apps Usage Activity

Google has completely revamped Apps usage information, providing an intuitive graph of usage information by Owned Files, Total Emails and Total Storage Used. This consolidated view makes it easy for administrators to see who is taking advantage of the Google Apps suite, who might need more training and who requires added storage.

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Access Apps Usage Activity by heading to Reporting > Apps Usage Activity.

In Depth Filtering and Exports

Along with ramped up reporting functionality, Google has added advanced filtering to quickly and easily allow administrators to comb through logs and audits quickly, but unfortunately administrators cannot filter by specific date and time range outside of the Audit tab.

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New functionality also allows administrators to add or remove columns from their reports to build custom views. And lastly, admins can export to Google Sheets or download a .CSV file of the filtered views allowing them to easily disseminate information throughout their organization.

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Google’s latest updates to the Admin Console continue to advance the administrative capabilities and overall value of living and working in Google Apps. As Google continues to grow its user base and win more customers from Microsoft, we’ll likely continue to see advancements like this one to further build out the suite’s enterprise functionality.

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