Administrative Access
Administrative access in Google Cloud should be designed to be secure, scalable, and easy to manage. The recommended approach is to grant permissions to groups instead of individual users. This reduces operational overhead and simplifies access changes as users move between teams.
Group based access also improves auditing and supports the principle of least privilege.
Group based IAM model
In Google Cloud, IAM roles should be assigned to groups and users should be added to those groups. This model ensures consistent access control and avoids permission sprawl.
For example, instead of assigning BigQuery roles directly to a user, the user is added to a data team group that already has the required roles. When the user changes roles, group membership can be updated without modifying IAM policies.
Common administrative groups
At the organization level, several administrative groups are commonly used as a starting point. Organizations can extend or customize these groups as needed.
Common admin groups include:
- Organization admins
- Billing admins
- Network admins
- Security admins
- Logging admins
- Monitoring admins
- DevOps admins
Each group is mapped to a specific set of responsibilities and IAM roles.
Responsibilities of key admin groups
Organization admins
Organization admins manage the overall structure of the environment. This includes folders, projects, IAM structure, and high level policies.
Billing admins
Billing admins manage billing accounts, budgets, cost controls, and usage visibility across the organization.
Network admins
Network admins manage VPCs, subnets, firewall rules, and network connectivity between environments.
Security admins
Security admins manage IAM permissions, organization policies, and security services such as Security Command Center.
Logging and monitoring admins
Logging admins manage log ingestion, retention, and exports. Monitoring admins manage metrics, dashboards, and alerting configurations.
Assigning administrative access
Administrative access is typically configured using the Setup your Foundation workflow in the Google Cloud Console.
The process includes:
- Selecting each administrative group
- Assigning the recommended IAM roles
- Applying optional role customizations
- Saving and reviewing the configuration
This workflow is repeated for each admin group to ensure consistent role assignments.
Key design decisions
When designing administrative access, organizations should consider:
- Which admin groups are required at the organization, folder, and project levels
- Who should belong to each group based on job function
- How to enforce least privilege while enabling operational efficiency
Clear ownership and well defined roles reduce security risk and improve day to day operations.
Verification
After configuration, administrative access should be verified by reviewing the IAM section at the organization level. This ensures:
- All required groups exist
- The correct roles are assigned
- No individual users have unnecessary elevated permissions
Outcome
A well designed administrative access model provides strong governance, simplifies access management, and supports secure growth on Google Cloud. By using groups as the primary access mechanism, organizations gain flexibility, auditability, and long term operational stability.