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Test Environment: Server - Server 2008 R2
UMRA - 10.6 (build 1640)

I've been asked a few times over the last few months what are the common questions someone might have when trying to create a UMRA Automation project that takes Active Directory Users and syncs it with Google Apps. Below are four of the main questions I ask my clients before I being a the sync process.

1. Are the users already in Active Directory but not Google Apps?
* The reason why I ask this is because, when you create the Google Apps account, what will be the initial password upon creation? You can use any relevant data from either Active Directory, or another data source for the initial password.

2. Are the users that are going to be created in Google Apps, created in a specific container?
* Google Apps has the ability to create a container, much like Active Directories OU's. This is important because you need to know where to place a user upon creation, instead of putting everyone on the root. Having a clean

3. Are you going to keep your Google Apps users in sync with Active Directory?
* Creating accounts is only Google Apps is only one of the steps when doing a sync. Other standardization options include, location sync (what happens if a user moves schools after they are created in Google Apps), status sync (if a user becomes disabled in Active Directory, are you going to suspend in Google Apps), first name / last name sync (if the first or last name changes in Active Directory are you going to sync that into Google Apps).

4. Are you going to apply group memberships in Google Apps?
* Much like Active Directory, you can apply groups to users, however you will need to setup security on these groups. When setting up the security, you need to know who can send and use these group lists.

Those are 4 of the main questions I typically ask when doing a Active Directory to Google Apps sync. If you are able to answer these standard questions, or come up with your own standardization rules for these, doing the sync should be come a lot more easier to do. As always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me, or leave a comment below.