Google Workspace Seller Guide
Contents of the article
1. How to enable Google Workspace in your platform?
2. Create and manage customers
3. Purchasing Google Workspace
4. Managing Google Workspace Subscriptions
5. Transfer a customer's subscriptions to your reseller account
6. Set up Google Workspace for your organization
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1. How to enable Google Workspace in your platform?
Google Workspace offer rules are customized per partner; therefore it is on-boarded individually per partner.
In order for partner to enable a GWS offers on the platform partner needs to have valid Google Partner Console (Reseller Console) and Partner need to be aware of your relationships/agreement with Google.
If a partner have some old transactions then we advise to open a new console environment (preferably one per region) from which only transactions that are related to AppXite Platform will be visible.
To enable the GWS on your AppXite platform you need to create a new Project within your Partner Console and grant Service account access to AppXite.
Please follow instruction here https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-accounts-create
Once that is done submit support request to AppXite support, with following details:
- which country
- Partner Hub
- relationships with Google: do you have any existing business ?
- if yes how many ~ resellers/customers ?
2. Create and manage customers
Note! When a customer updates account information in their Admin console, for example, changing their primary domain, the updates are not synchronized to your Partner Sales Console or AppXite platform.
You need to update the customer's account information in your AppXite Platform.
To stay up-to-date, remind customers to notify you when they change their domain name, administrator, or contact information.
1.1 Domain DNS record
Domain DNS record is a pre-requisite for GWS and should be purchased outside the platform prior registering new customer and completing purchase. Partners can use any 3rd party tool for that.
Upon new customer creation the domain will be automatically validated from the AppXite platform.
However, a newly-created customer will still follow a guided domain-verification process when they access the admin console (on admin.google.com ) for the first time.
• Accept the Terms of Service
• Verify ownership of the domain
• Set up DNS records
2.1 Customer and Cloud Identity creation
Every customer who wants to purchase Google Workspace, as prerequisite should have Google customer account and Google Cloud Identity.
Google customer account - general customer identity on Google side that subscriptions will be linked to. (Not only Google Workspace, but e.g. Google Cloud etc.)
Google Cloud Identity/Workspace Identity - Google Workspace specific identity that is linked with valid customer domain, and provides access to admin.google.com
3.1 How to Identify in Platform whether customer has Google customer account and Cloud Identity
Google customer account - field "Customer account" will display domain if account exists- screenshot below.
Google Cloud Identity - when selecting field “Action” is "Place order", then field Workspace Identity will return value of Identity if that exists for such customer:
Note! Upon activating a checkbox or performing any Action on a buy page you are always recommended to refresh the page. Example:
4.1 How to create new Customer account with Workspace/Cloud Identity in Platform.
New customer will not have value in "Customer account" field. In order to register customer, should select in field “Action” -> "Create customer account" and fill in all fields that are showed:
Once checkbox "Submit account registration" is selected, system will send request to create both Google customer account and Workspace/Cloud Identity. Refresh the page.
After page is refreshed Customer will see values in Customer account and Workspace Identity. Error message or blank value will be returned in case of failure.
If Customer will not refresh the page but attempts to send create request again, then in result field will see error message in case customer tenant was created – see error message bellow:
5.1 How to create Workspace identity for existing Customer account in Platform
If customer wants to use another domain than displayed in field "Customer account", then he should choose in field “Action” -> "Update domain". It will work only in case if customer does not have yet registered Cloud Identity.
If customer already has existing Google customer account, then should select field “Action” ->"Create Workspace Identity".
6.1 Acceptance of Workspace Identity
When Cloud Identity / Workspace Identity is created, email that was provided as Alternate email will receive following Mail from Google.
Please follow instructions from that e-mail in order to successfully proceed with the purchasing process.
3. Purchasing Google Workspace
IMPORTANT: Customer can only have one Google Workspace subscription!
If the customer wishes to change the SKU of their subscription, they must use upgrade/downgrade functionality.
Note! Customer and Cloud Identity is required before making any purchases.
How to do that please see previous step.
- Step 1. Selecting the desired offer sku
Under the Google Workspace product there are several offer skus available, some might be unique to the reseller:
Upon opening the buy page, the default action will be "Place order", if the field “Workspace Identity” returns the identity id, you are good to purchase:
- Step 2: Configuration of your purchase
Note! The "Plan Id" field is pre-filled and should not be changed by customer, in this field the offer id will be displayed, the id's depend on the country of the customer, term duration, billing cycle or any other external factor.
If the "Plan Id" field value is "none" that means the current selection is invalid for the specific customer, as an example there is no prerequisite subscription (if selected offer is add-on) or this customer already has Google Workspace entitlement associated with this account.
Please select license quantity, term duration and billing cycle:
PO Number or purchase order number field lets the customer specify a custom PO number they want to associate with this order, if left empty our system will use the order item id as PO number.
Please note that this PO cannot be updated later.
1.3 Subscription Activation
IMPORTANT: In order for subscription to be activated, Customers have to accept T&C on Google Console.
Notification is sent to alternate email.
Within 9 days admin have to login to console accept T&C and verify domain.
If you have already set up your account before ordering, after you order it may take some time and re-login to get this page prompted. This page can only be prompted on login. But after you accept the license terms, the subscription will finally be active.
If not verified, order is automatically failed. If order was placed for Annual Plan then even though customer did not accept T&C and verified domain, but Customer will be charged.
4. Managing Google Workspace Subscriptions
You can only provision from AppXite platform GWS products for a customer if they do not have an existing cloud identity or if you already resell for them.
You cannot provision GWS products if customer is buying directly from Google or from another reseller.
At first you have to transfer a customer's subscriptions to your reseller account.
If the customer has a cloud identity, you must transfer the customer and their entitlements.
Reminder! Customer can only have one Google Workspace subscription!
If the customer wishes to change the SKU of their subscription, they must use upgrade/downgrade functionality.
Several payment plans are available and supported in the AppXite platform:
• Annual/Monthly: Annual commitment with monthly payments
• Annual/Yearly: Annual commitment with yearly payment
• Flexible: Non-commitment plan with monthly payments
• Perpetual: One-time, non-recurring payment
• Free trial plan of 30-day’s is included in the offer SKU
1.4 Trials
Trial days can vary per partner, some might have 14 days, some 30 days.
However majority GWS Offers start with the free 30-day trial. Trial plan is included in the main offer and has the same Offer ID. Per default when purchasing autorenewal is set to “off.”
If a customer decides to upgrade to a paid subscription, the customer has to go to AppXite platform and change the subscription to paid plan.
Note! The subscription will be upgraded to the selected plan immediately; however billing will start only after the end of the trial period.
2.4 Change Quantity
To change quantity, select Edit subscription, change the number to what you desire and click Save Changes, check the KB on that: https://support.appxite.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011687919-How-to-change-the-Quantity-of-Subscription-licenses-
3.4 Upgrades and Downgrades
As it is not possible to purchase other subscription for the same account, customer can midterm upgrade and downgrade a GWS subscription.
Only Flexible plans can be upgraded or downgraded .
Below a subscription, you will see the possible upgrade and downgrade options, as an example below:
After selecting one of the options, you will be sent to this order page, and you will be able to configure your order.
If your cloud identity loads it means you are possible to proceed:
-
Make sure to switch the option to Place order:
In the screenshot above you can see that by default the option field Term Duration “Trial” , it is not possible upgrade to trial, please select other option.
If you are upgrading while still in trial period, it will continue under the new subscription SKU.
As an example bellow for Flexible:
a) This will let you Upgrade/Downgrade to your desired offer.
b) You can also specify a new PO number in this step (Please note it is not possible to update Po for this subscription after order is provisioned).
Note! Upgrades/downgrades start a new subscription and terminate the previous one. For Annual plans, a new commitment starts when you make a change.
Upgrade & downgrade matrix for Google Workspace SKUs below. This matrix sums up acceptable upgrade and downgrade paths within GWS:
For more information about upgrades/downgrades and cancellation terms possibilities read here.
Pay attention to the specifications that are available for a distributor/reseller and customer level.
4.4 Suspension/Reactivation
Before suspending any GWS subscription all add-on offers must be cancelled that are associated GWS subscription (Google Vault or Google Drive).
Only Flexible plans can be suspended.
Annual plans cannot be cancelled. For annual plans renewal can be switched On or Off.
Note that you have 60 days to re-activate your subscription.
If customer has reactivated his trial, it cannot be renewed/purchased again for this customer account.
5.4 Renewals
Renewal on/off and Suspension/Reactivation Both are active in the platform since each plan inside the offer has its own rules.
If inapplicable action is selected the order will fail.
Note! There is a slight latency in Renewal/Expiration time zones: AppXite Platform performs Autorenewal early after midnight (what date starts) while on the Google side Renewal/Expiration happens ~ at the time of purchase. The status of your subscriptions will be different from platform and console for a couple of hours.
You are only allowed to toggle renewal for term duration: 1 year:
Trial plans will provision with this option “Off” to enable it, please switch to a different plan:
6.4 Change Plan after trial
You can select term duration option to change the offer plan. Viable options:
Flexible (if changing from trial), Annual (if changing from trial or flexible).
Reminder! It is only possible to initially buy a trial, switching back to trial is not supported by Google.
After selecting term duration, please wait for Offer Id field to load a new offer Id:
5. Transfer a customer's subscriptions to your reseller account
All customer GWS subscriptions must be handled by one reseller.
Customer cannot transfer some of the subscriptions, however there are few exceptions.
A customer can choose to keep Google Voice or Chrome subscriptions with Google and transfer other subscriptions.
For example, a customer cannot transfer only some of their Google Workspace subscriptions or only their Google Workspace Additional Storage licenses, but they can choose not to transfer their Google Voice or Chrome Enterprise Upgrade subscription.
You cannot transfer customers who have Google Workspace for Nonprofits or the G Suite legacy free edition.
They can upgrade to a paid edition of Google Workspace, and then transfer their account to your reseller management.
It is strongly advised not to update the existing subscriptions during the transfer period.
Note! If the customer has multiple Google Workspace or G Suite editions, they need to contact their Google Sales representative or Google Support to perform the transfer.
To transfer the subscription to a new reseller, the partner have to generate the transfer token based on the Reseller Public Identifier (account ID).
Here are the instructions for the customer - https://support.google.com/a/answer/7643791
Here are the instructions for the reseller/partner - https://support.google.com/channelservices/answer/9547629#
Pre-Migration Requirements:
Before initiating the migration with AppXite, it is essential to:
- Ensure that the transfer token was approved, and you see in Google Console customer subscriptions.
- Ensure that the reseller is onboarded and that a contract between Google and the Distributor for that reseller is established. For more information read Onboarding Contracts for Sellers.
- Provide the Correlation ID, which maps the Google console to the correct AppXite reseller platform.
- Submit a support ticket to AppXite with the following details and requesting for synchronizing a subscriptions :
- Distributor Country
- Distributor Platform URL
- Reseller name and URL
- End-customer name
Please note that transfer is a manual process and prior migration reach out to AppXite support and inform about the potential transfer.
6. Set up Google Workspace for your organization
After GWS subscription is successfully provisioned you can follow these instructions to set it up: https://support.google.com/a/answer/6365252
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