Google Tools: Suite, Site, Drive, Classroom and More

Google Account

Manage via admin.google.com

Go to Billing to see our plan; as of 10/27/25, we have two: Google Workspace for Nonprofits (free plan), and Android Enterprise (free).

Android Enterprise has been active since Jan 27, 2025. I don't know much about that, except that it allows management of our organization's Android devices. We may have one Android tablet, purchased in 2025 for the SPORTident orienteering app.

GSuite

We use GSuite for email, calendar, and document archive.

GSuite is a way for us to have our own collection of resources managed by the organization. We can create gmail addresses @navigationgames.org

Team Drives

Team Drives allow us to store documents and control access within and outside of Navigation Games.

Access is controlled at the whole Drive level, or at individual document level. There is not ability to control access at the folder level. This makes it simpler for us to know who has access to a particular document.

Team drives can be accessed via your computer's file explorer if you set up Drive File Stream. This makes it easy to open non-Google documents such as maps, course files (Purple Pen) and Microsoft application files. 

All members of a team drive see all files. Individual files, but not folders, can be shared with individuals outside the organization.

Limits on Team Drives: 400,000 files and folders. 750Gb upload in 1 day (but a single file upload will complete, up to a 5 Tb max). Nest to 20 subfolders (but that is not a good idea).  Each user gets 30 Gb storage. To find out how much has been used, go to the admin console, then Reports, then User reports > App usage. For large uploads of data, like video files, we should use service accounts like Media One.

Accessing Team Drives via Google Drive Desktop

Google Drive Desktop (formerly known as Google Team Drive) is a way to view files from Google Drive as though they were on your computer, through your File Explorer, or directly when you open or save files from applications. This means you no longer have to save locally and then upload to Google Drive, or download from Google Drive in order to use a file. You can find out more here. 

Notably, both the Easygec application and Easygec files can be stored on Google Drive and accessed through Google Drive Desktop. For example, in the "Z Cambridge PE Orienteering" drive, the Easygec software can be found in the Easygec/software/ folder. To run it, do the following:

• Open a CMD window on a PC by typing "CMD" in the "Type here to search" box at the lower left.

• In the CMD window, type:

  • D:     

    • (or the letter of the drive mapped to Google Drive; for some people it will be "G:") -- this changes your directory to the drive

  • cd "Shared drives"

  • cd "Z Cambridge*"

  • cd Easygec/software

  • java -jar Easygec.jar

To find the Easygec files for Cambridge PE (for example), look in D:/Shared drives/Z Cambridge PE  Orienteering/Easygec/Current/ and then the relevant folder.

Note: it is important to make your Team Drive files available offline so you can access them when not on the internet. However, you don't need to make all files available offline (that would take too much space on the computer. For example, on the Lenovo, the Easygec folder in Z Cambridge PE  Orienteering is available offline. You can make a folder or files available offline by right clicking on its name in File Explorer, and selecting Google Drive > available offline.

Google Sites

Google sites are an easy way to create simple static websites. You can also control who has access to the published site, through clicking "Advanced" on the sharing button in the editor. Generally, we provide access to Navigation Games users.

To create a new google site, from the appropriate folder in a Team Drive, click on "New", and then select from the expanded options list ("More") , Google Site.

To edit sites, go to sites.google.com/new -- this is a handy place to see all the google sites you have edit access to. Note that after you have made edits, you need to click "Publish" at the top right. There is a drop-down option to view the published site. 

We have three key google sites so far:

• Operating Manual (for all staff; lives in the Programs team drive) -- this wiki!

• Orienteering Lessons (a prototype for public access to our lesson plans and also a prototype for an update to our website)

• Financial? 

The sites are stored in Google Drive. To find the location, search in Google Drive for the name of the site. When you see it, right click and ask for the location of the item.

Users, Groups and aliases

We add users and groups through the admin.google.com site. Each user and group can have aliases. 

A G Suite admin can add aliases for a user or group. An alias is an alternative email address that delivers to the same inbox as the user's primary email address. Go to the console (admin.google.com), then Users, then click on the user's name, then click User information > Email aliases and go from there.

Some email addresses are for roles as opposed to individuals. A role is something like "president" or "admin", and the individuals who carry out those roles may change over time. Some of these may be shared among more than one person at a time (such as "outreach" or "admin"), so that everyone in a group sees incoming mail, and anyone in the group can send messages from that email address.

Shared email addresses can be set up either as individual google users or as google groups. See this spreadsheet for the current list of groups / generic users. Last updated 7/25/24. Monday.com does not allow group email addresses to be used, so for communications that we want to send from Monday.com, we need to set up an individual google user. 

Setting up a google user for shared communications

This is a good solution when the account needs to be used in settings where the email address is linked to a single account. This is the case for Monday.com, for example (you can't use group email address for Monday.com, only a user email address).

• In admin.google.com, add a user.

• To send from this address in gmail: Each person who needs to be able to send mail as this user should go into their gmail settings, and click on "Add another email address" in the "Send mail as:" section. You should also set your default behavior to "Reply from the same address the message was sent to" (you can always change this as you're sending an individual reply). You will need to go into the new user's email and find the message from "Navigation Games Team" asking you to confirm the request; click on that until you've approved it.

• To read emails sent to this address in gmail, there are several choices

  • You can switch to the inbox for that user (logging in as that user with the password) and read mail there. 

  • A single address can be forwarded to: log in as that user and set up Forwarding to "Forward a copy of incoming mail to [your address or a group address]" and "keep Navigation Games Mail's copy in the Inbox". 

  • To add multiple addresses to forward email to, go to "Filters and Blocked Addresses" in gmail settings, and create a new filter that will forward everything (set Size greater than 1 Bytes as the filter, then choose to forward to a given forwarding address.). First, you need to add that email address as a forwarding address.

• To send from this address in Monday.com: In Monday.com, one person sets up this new user email address, and then gives access to others on the team who can use it for sending mass email.

Setting up a google group for shared communications

• Any group member can set up their gmail to allow sending from a group email address (if they are in that group). This is useful because replies will go to everyone in the group. For communicating with clients, that is a good way to work, so that we all see all the messages, and don't accidentally get left off if someone does a "reply" instead of a "reply-all". 

To join a group and to be able to send mail from a group email address (such as admin@navigationgames.org):

• Ask someone to add you into the email group

• Once you receive the email invite, add the calendar to your profile

• Go to Settings - See all Settings - Accounts and Import

  • Under "Send mail as...", select account and select "Edit info"

  • Select "Treat as an alias"

Examples of shared google email addresses as of 4/14/25

For a more complete listing, see this spreadsheet, or (if you have access) go to admin.google.com.

• User accounts:

  • Workhorse accounts: Media WorkerTwo, Media WorkerOne (set up because there is a limit in overall upload), help, webmaster

  • Role-based accounts: outreach (used in Monday.com), NavGames Accountant (used to log into some online tools), treasurer, secretary, survey, programs

• Groups

  • admin, hiring, hr, board, staff, sales

Going forward, we should probably do the following:

• Use an alias or group for roles like president (because that could be changed to someone else later)

Removing a user

When a user is no longer with Navigation Games, follow steps to safely secure their account, transfer ownership of their documents, and forward their mail to a current user. Some references:

• How to Deprovision Users from G Suite to Prevent Data Loss, 2019

• Delete or remove a user from your organization, from Google Workspace Admin Help

• Maintain data security after an employee leaves, from Google Workspace Admin Help

• 5 steps to securely transfer G Suite data when an employee leaves your company, 2017, Tech Republic

Google AppSheet

10/27/25: per AI, AppSheet Core is included at no extra cost with most paid Workspace editions, but the free "Google Workspace for Nonprofits" base plan does not include AppSheet Core. We'd only get the free prototype tier (up to 10 test users). 

AppSheet standalone costs $10/user/month if we were to want to deploy apps broadly. If we stick with 10 users, we can use the free version.

So we can use it for small prototype apps, but it would be expensive to move beyond that. 

Barb's notes say that we have a code newnp50; not sure if that is still relevant.

Teaching Tools

Google Classroom

As of January 2024, we do not have active online course support. Rather, for one-time workshops that we deliver at conferences or for school districts (professional development), we have been creating a page in our main public-facing google site - here is an exampe. Going forward, we do intend to offer more extended professional development, both in-person and remotely delivered (and hybrid), and this will benefit from an online instructional system. Our default plan is to use Google Classroom, to avoid complexity by staying in the google platform, and because it is free. CPSD (Cambridge schools) uses Google Classroom, so MSYEP students are familiar with it.

Previously, we started using Google Classroom for

• Summer O Training 2020 (for Mori and Dashiell; nice start by Ethan, but not developed past a couple of sessions)

• FYEP 2020 - for managing a schoolyear intern we got via the Cambridge youth employment office. Tanairi posted assignments. 

• A MSYEP Game in 2020 - for administering a game where you visit controls and answer questions. Not used/developed much if at all.

• MSYEP 2020 - used extensively by Ethan; includes a section on employment an don-boarding (Safe Sport training, participation waiver, questionnaire, timesheet,...)

Navigation Games Badges and Certificates

It would be great to be able to start offering badges and certificates. What would be the easiest way to track these?

Wix.com allows you go give site members badges. You can have access to pages restricted by what badge they have.

Wix also allows you to have an online program, with articles, videos and quizzes. As with any editing we do with Wix, it is SLOW. The editor is slow. It doesn't allow images in the multiple choice questions, the way Google Classroom does. The nice thing about Wix though is that you can automate them getting badges when they complete a course. We should determine whether the user experience for a Wix online program is faster, or whether it is loading dynamic content slowly. If the user experience is good, it would be worth developing a program in Wix!

Result of some googling:

• Credential standards

  • Open Badges 3.0

  • W3C Verifiable Credentials

• Digital badge and/or certifiication providers

• badgecert.com. It's expensive: $550/year for 200 badges. $2500/year for 2000 badges. 

• Credly: per this resource: 500 badges = $2500; 10,000 badges = $20,000

• Certifier: free for 250/year. $67/month ($804/year)  for 1000 certs/year. $339/month for 3000 certs/year.

• Accredible: $1000/year for 250 recipients

• CertifyMe - free for 50 credentials

• Sertifier starts from $75/month

• Certifier starts from 33/month and has suppsedly a free plan

• CertifyMe

• Give My Certificate starts from $18/month and does not have digital badges - only certs.

• Certopus is strongly recommended, according to ... Certopus. Up to 1200 credentials for $300 ($.25 each); up to 12,000 for $1000 ($.08 each). The free tier is 50 certs or badges and 2 events.

After looking at this, I can see the value of the programs, but while we're still small, we can do it by hand. Credentialing involves:

• Tracking who has what badge. Need to verify their identity clearly.

• Being able to tell them or others what their certifiied on.

• Collecting badges into certificates.