Google App Licensing integration

If you are using Google Workspace, you can now activate and manage access to your ThingLink organizational license via the Google Admin console using the new Google App licensing integration.

• Overview
• Setting up the integration
• How the integration works
• Differences versus the Google Workspace integration

Overview

The integration allows you to control access to your ThingLink organizational account via the Google Admin portal and simplifies the onboarding process by allowing you to assign licenses via the Google Admin portal. Users who have been assigned a license will be automatically added to your ThingLink organizational account when they sign up using their Google account. Users who have not been assigned a license will receive an error message instead.

Setting up the integration

The integration is currently available on request. If you would like to enable it, please reach out to our support team here first.

Once you receive a confirmation that the integration has been made available on your account, follow the steps below:

1. Enable the integration on ThingLink. Go to the Organization page, then select the Integrations tab and click the 'Enable' button next to Google App Licensing:
   
2. Check your inbox. You will receive an email containing a special link you need to redeem the license via the Google Admin portal. Simply click the link and proceed to step 3:
   
3. Redeem the licenses via the Google Admin portal. Upon clicking the link, you will be taken to the Google Workspace Admin portal. Review the license details and redeem the license:
   
4. Grant API client access. You will be asked to grant API client access to ThingLink. This allows us to read the data we need to identify the user and determine whether they have been granted a ThingLink license. 
   Check the 'Enable API client access for all users of this domain.' box and click 'Accept':
   
5. Provide admin contact info. Enter the name and the email address of the managing administrator. This information is not utilized as of now but might be used as the integration evolves.
6. Assign the licenses. Once the licenses have been redeemed, you can assign them to your whole organization, organizational units, or user groups. Users who have access to the app will be automatically assigned a license and connected to your organizational account on ThingLink when they sign up with their Google account.
   Learn more about how to assign and revoke licenses via the Google Admin portal here.

How the integration works

Whenever a user from your Google Workspace domain signs in to ThingLink using their Google account, we will check whether you have made ThingLink available to them via the Google Admin portal.

The user will see an error message if you have not made ThingLink available to their organizational unit:

If the user has access to ThingLink licenses, we will assign a license to them and automatically add them to your organizational account. If they do not have an account yet, we will automatically create one for them. The user may be asked to select their account type (teacher or student) if appropriate but this can be avoided by using the Google Classroom integration - see the next section for more details.

Differences between Google App Licensing integration and Google Workspace integration

The integration is similar to the Google Workspace (and Google Classroom) integrations we offer to simplify onboarding new users. The key difference is that the Google App Licensing integration gives you additional control over who can access ThingLink by allowing you to assign licenses to select organizational units or user groups.

Google App Licensing integration can be used in combination with the other integrations. We recommend enabling the Google Classroom integration to make sure that the user's account type is determined automatically.

If the App Licensing integration is used on its own, the user will be asked to select their account type (teacher or student) if applicable.