Keep Google Workspace Up to Date with Blackbaud

Userbus's Blackbaud–Google Workspace sync performs account lifecycle management in your Google Workspace tenant, based on your data in Blackbaud.

The sync can automatically:

• Create, update, and deprovision users in Google
• Place users into groups and organizational units
• Update user fields, groups, and organizational units when their Blackbaud data changes
• Generate email addresses and passwords
• Email you about changes and errors
• Create spreadsheets listing new users and their passwords and email them to you and/or save them to Google Drive
• Manage your Education Plus licenses
• Suspend Google users when they leave in Blackbaud

User Creation

When determining which users to create in Google, Userbus will include Blackbaud users with the roles you choose. The default included roles are:

• Non-Teaching Staff
• Student
• Teacher

We can change these roles according to your requirements.

For each included Blackbaud user, Userbus will check whether it has already linked that user to a Google user.

For users without existing links, Userbus will compare them to existing Google users by email address.

• Blackbaud user and Google user have the same email address (regardless of capitalization and dots in the username portion): Userbus will establish a link between them, which it will remember in the future. Userbus will infer that a Google user already exists for the matched Blackbaud user, and a new Google user will not be created for that Blackbaud user.
• No Google user has same email address as Blackbaud user: Userbus will create an account in Google for that Blackbaud user. Userbus will link that Blackbaud user to the new Google user in Userbus's database.
• Blackbaud user has no email address: Userbus will generate an email address, create the user in Google, and set their email address in Blackbaud if the corresponding Blackbaud user's email address is blank.

Users that are already linked when a sync runs will not be created in Google during that sync.

User Updates

Userbus will update users in Google when:

• The value of a mapped field changes in Blackbaud.
  • Example: Jane Smith's name changes to Jane Brown. Userbus will update Jane's last name in Google.
• The organizational unit mapping rules indicate that the user should be moved to a different organizational unit.
  • Example: John Doe's department changes from Business Office to Marketing and Communication. Userbus will move John to the Marketing and Communication organizational unit in Google.
• The group mapping rules indicate that the user's group membership should change.
  • Example: John Doe's department changes from Business Office to Marketing and Communication. Userbus will remove John from the Business Office group and add him to the Marketing and Communication group.

User Suspension

When a Blackbaud user that is linked to a Google user is no longer active or visible to Userbus in Blackbaud, Userbus will suspend that user in Google.

Blackbaud users can become inactive or invisible to Userbus for several reasons. Examples for students include graduation and withdrawal. Examples for employees include retirement, departure, and termination.

When a Blackbaud user becomes active or visible again after being inactive or invisible to Userbus, Userbus will reactivate the corresponding Google user.

Organizational Unit Mapping

Userbus will determine a user's appropriate organizational unit according to your rules.

When a user is created, the user will be placed into the appropriate organizational unit.

If a user exists and Userbus has linked it to a Blackbaud user, Userbus will move them to their appropriate organizational unit if it is different from their actual organizational unit.

If a user exists and Userbus has not linked it to a Blackbaud user, Userbus will not determine or change that user's organizational unit.

Group Mapping

Userbus will determine a user's appropriate group memberships according to your rules.

When a user is created, they will be added to the appropriate groups.

If a user meets the criteria for multiple groups, then the user's membership will be set to all of those groups.

For each existing user that Userbus has linked to a Blackbaud user:

• Userbus will add that user to any groups that it has determined the user should be a member of, where the user is not already a member.
• Userbus will remove the user from any groups that are within scope for Userbus to manage if Userbus has determined that the user should not be a member of those groups but the user currently is a member of them.
• Userbus will ignore groups not listed in this section. It will not add or remove members with regard to those groups.

Field Mapping

The following fields are mapped from Blackbaud to Google by default:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address

Let us know if you need additional fields mapped. We can also customize these field mappings.

Field mapping changes may be included at no extra charge, or there may be a cost that we will run by you for approval, based on factors like the time and complexity of the associated development effort.

Email Address Generation

For new users in Google, email addresses will be generated in your chosen format.

If the generated email address is already taken by an existing user, a new email address will be generated using your disambiguation rules.

Example:

• Email address format is First.Last@example.com.
• John Doe is an employee at the school. His email address is John.Doe@example.com.
• Another person named John Doe joins the school. His email address is blank.
• The school's requested disambiguation rule is to add .# to the username portion of email addresses with duplicates.
• Userbus generates John.Doe.1@example.com for the second John Doe.

These email address formats are just examples. Formats are different from school to school. So are email disambiguation rules. We define rules according to your requirements.

The sync can also set email addresses in Blackbaud users' contact cards, providing a full end-to-end solution.

Password Generation

For new users in Google, passwords will be generated in your chosen format.

Some schools use predictable passwords that employees and students know. For example:

myschool2025!

Typically, a user would be required to change that password on first login.

Some schools prefer random passwords, like:

SunshinePup1
FriendlyFrog52

When it creates new accounts, Userbus can email a spreadsheet of them to the email address of your choice. We can also save it to a folder in your Google Drive.

License Management

The sync can manage Education Plus licenses for your users.

Example:

• A new student account is created.
• The sync can assign the new account an Education Plus license.
• When the user is suspended someday, the sync can remove the license.

Customization

If you have requirements that go beyond this default functionality, let us know! We may be able to handle them.

Customization may incur additional costs. If so, we'll run by you for approval.

Sync Times

The sync can run:

• On demand at any time by logging in to Userbus's web portal and clicking the Run button. Changes are reflected in Google by the time the sync finishes running.
• On a schedule that you can adjust in the web portal.