To preserve an employee's Google Workspace data while they are on long leave, allow teammates access to that data, and minimize costs with the intention of fully restoring the account upon their return, the best course of action is to purchase an Archived User license and assign it to the employee.
Here's why option B is the most suitable and cost-effective solution that meets all the requirements:
B. Purchase an Archived User license and assign the license to the employee.
Google Workspace offers Archived User licenses at a significantly lower cost than a full user license. When you assign an Archived User license to an account, the data (including Gmail, Drive, and other Workspace services) is retained and can be accessed by other authorized users (e.g., administrators or delegated teammates). The user themselves cannot log in or use the services, thus minimizing cost. Upon the employee's return, you can easily reassign a full Business Plus license to their account, restoring their full access without any data loss or complex restoration processes.
Associate Google Workspace Administrator topics guides or documents reference: The official Google Workspace Admin Help documentation on "About Archived User licenses" (or similar titles) explicitly describes this scenario as the intended use case for Archived User licenses. It outlines the reduced cost, the preservation of data, the ability for administrators to access the data (and delegate access), and the seamless transition back to a full license when the user returns.
A. Suspend their account in the Admin console.
Suspending an account prevents the user from accessing it, but it typically retains the full license cost. While an administrator might be able to access some data in a suspended account, it doesn't offer the cost savings of an Archived User license. Additionally, depending on the suspension duration and Google's policies, there might be implications for long-term data retention without an active or archived license.
Associate Google Workspace Administrator topics guides or documents reference: The Google Workspace Admin Help documentation on "Suspend or restore users" explains the functionality ofaccount suspension. It primarily focuses on temporarily revoking access, not on long-term, cost-effective data preservation with potential for delegated access.
C. Export the account data by using Takeout, and remove the user license in the Admin console.
While Google Takeout allows you to export user data, this creates a separate archive that is not directly integrated with Google Workspace. Providing teammates access to this exported data would be cumbersome and not as seamless as accessing it within the original Workspace environment. Removing the user license would stop data retention in Google Workspace, and restoring the account fully upon the employee's return would involve re-importing the data, which can be complex, time-consuming, and potentially lead to data loss or inconsistencies. This option does minimize cost by removing the license but at the expense of easy access and seamless restoration.
Associate Google Workspace Administrator topics guides or documents reference: Documentation on Google Takeout describes its purpose for exporting data out of Google services, primarily for personal use or data migration, not for temporary data preservation and collaborative access within the Workspace environment. Removing a license typically leads to data deletion after a certain period unless an alternative (like an Archived User license) is in place.
D. Copy the employee’s emails, and transfer their file ownership to a teammate. Delete the user account.
This approach involves significant data manipulation and potential loss of context. Copying emails might not preserve the entire mailbox structure and could miss important information. Transferring file ownership can be complex and might not cover all types of data or shared items. Deleting the user account would permanently remove the data, making full restoration upon the employee's return impossible. This option is not suitable for preserving the employee's Workspace data and restoring their account later.
Associate Google Workspace Administrator topics guides or documents reference: Google Workspace's account management best practices emphasize preserving user accounts and data for returning employees. Deleting accounts with the intention of temporary leave is strongly discouraged due to the difficulty and risks associated with data recovery and account recreation.
Therefore, the most appropriate action that meets all the requirements of preserving data, providing access to teammates, minimizing cost during the leave, and allowing for full restoration upon return is to purchase an Archived User license and assign it to the employee.
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