Definition

The "List Organizational Units" action retrieves a list of all organizational units (OUs) within a Google Directory account. This action allows administrators to view the structure of their organization's units, including their hierarchy, unique identifiers, and descriptions. It supports fetching either all sub-organizations or just the immediate children of a specified organizational unit. This is essential for managing users and policies within an enterprise environment.

Example Use Cases

1. View Organizational Hierarchy
   Retrieve a complete list of organizational units to understand the structure and relationships within an organization's Google Directory.

2. Audit and Compliance Checks
   Ensure all organizational units are correctly structured and named according to company policies by listing them for review.

3. User Management Optimization
   Fetch organizational unit details to assign or move users efficiently within the correct groups and departments.

4. Automated Reporting
   Generate automated reports of all organizational units, their parent-child relationships, and descriptions for documentation purposes.

5. Integration with IT Systems
   Use the retrieved list of organizational units to sync with other IT management tools, ensuring consistency across platforms.

Inputs Explanation

1. Connection

   The authentication method required to connect to the Google Directory API. Ensures secure access to retrieve organizational unit details.

2. Customer Id

   The unique identifier for the customer account in Google Directory.

   • This can be found in the Google Admin Console under Account settings.
   • If working within a multi-domain account, use my_customer as an alias for the customer ID.

3. Type

   Specifies whether to retrieve all organizational units (including nested sub-units) or only the direct children of a specified unit.

   • All – Returns all sub-organizations recursively.
   • Children – Returns only the immediate child organizational units.

4. Organizational Unit Path

   The full path or unique ID of a specific organizational unit.

   • If provided, returns only the children of the specified organizational unit.
   • Example: /corp/sales will return all sub-units under the Sales department.

**Outputs **

1. Organization Unit ID

   A unique identifier assigned to each organizational unit in Google Directory.

   • Useful for referencing specific units in automation or API calls.

2. Organization Unit Path

   The full hierarchical path of the organizational unit.

   • Example: /corp/sales/sales_support represents a sub-unit within the Sales department.

3. Name of Organizational Unit

   The name of the organizational unit without the full path.

   • Example: sales_support for the /corp/sales/sales_support unit.

4. Parent Organizational Unit

   The path of the immediate parent organizational unit.

   • Example: /corp/sales is the parent of /corp/sales/sales_support.

5. Parent Organizational Unit ID

   The unique identifier for the parent organizational unit.

   • Helps in managing hierarchical relationships within the directory.

6. Description

   A textual description of the organizational unit.

   • Can be used for documentation or identification purposes.

Example of Using

Scenario: Listing All Sub-Organizational Units in a Sales Department

Imagine you are an administrator managing a large organization with multiple departments and sub-departments in Google Directory. You want to retrieve a list of all organizational units under the "Sales" department to evaluate their structure and manage permissions effectively.

Step-by-Step Use Case:

1. Input Fields:

   • Customer ID: You use the customer ID C12345678 for your organization, which is retrieved from your Google Admin console.
   • Type: You want to list all the sub-organizational units (departments and teams) under the "Sales" department, so you select Children.
   • Organizational Unit Path: To fetch the sub-units under "Sales", you enter /corp/sales as the path.

2. Expected Action Flow:

   • You configure the action to list all the organizational units (sub-units) within /corp/sales, ensuring that only direct children (like sales_support, sales_operations, etc.) are returned.

3. Action Execution:

   • The action processes your input fields and makes a request to the Google Directory API to fetch all organizational units under /corp/sales.

4. Output:

   • The output will contain information on each of the sub-units, such as:
     • Organization Unit ID: Unique ID for each sub-unit.
     • Organization Unit Path: For example, /corp/sales/sales_support.
     • Name of Organizational Unit: The name, such as sales_support.
     • Parent Organizational Unit: The parent unit is /corp/sales.
     • Parent Organizational Unit ID: The unique ID of /corp/sales.
     • Description: A brief description of each unit, such as "Support team for the Sales department."

5. Outcome:

   • With this information, you can now analyze the structure of the sales team and their sub-departments. This helps in organizing the teams better, providing the right permissions, or even updating the structure.

Benefits:

This action provides a clear and organized view of the sub-units within a parent organizational unit, which is essential for administrative tasks like auditing, restructuring, and delegating access control in your Google Directory.