As a Google Cloud Premier Partner, we not only support you in the technical implementation of your cloud project but also offer various services to simplify administration for admins as well as billing in Google Cloud Platform
(GCP). This use case for automated project creation offers your company great added value if you answer yes to the following questions:
- Do you have an application that is managed centrally?
- Do you want to distribute the costs for Google Services or APIs to different cost centres or locations?
- Or do you simply want to reduce manual effort in project creation?
A typical use case is, for example, a retail chain with multiple stores that wants to allocate GCP costs to individual stores. For this, we have created a solution that can be customised to your use case. Our solution includes application, project creation and activation of the services as well as the exact billing for the respective cost centre - all from one source.
Simple application via a form
The entry point for automated project creation in the Google Cloud Platform is a form, in this case, Google Forms. This allows you to make the application form available to the desired target group in a low-threshold manner. In addition, Google Forms can be used to customise the application form exactly to your requirements. After successful submission, the project can be created directly or can go through an approval process. For this purpose, Google Forms provides you with an overview of all applications that have been submitted. Furthermore, the information can be stored in Google Sheets in order to use the information for your reporting.
Project creation, enable APIs and generate API key(s) - all automated
The tool that processes the application and creates the project runs within the Google Cloud Platform with the Cloud Run service. Cloud Run is a serverless PaaS, and costs are only incurred when the service is actually executed. When a POST request for project creation is received by the tool, a series of steps occur:
- A project under a defined organisation/folder structure is created.
- A billing account is assigned to the created project.
- The required APIs, such as Google Maps, are enabled.
- One or more API keys are created and restricted to use specific APIs.
- The information about project ID and API key(s) will be made available to you and/or the applicant, for example via email.
Billing According to Your Requirements and Allocation to Cost Centers
Centralised and automated project creation allows us to tailor invoicing to your exact requirements and bill your individual organisational units directly. We already collect all the necessary information when the application is submitted via Google Forms.
Via the activated billing export, invoices can thus be created automatically for the costs incurred.
- Automated project creation, including activation of services and creation of API keys
- Low-threshold application creation with Google Forms
- Map approval process for project creation
- Scale to zero — CPU and RAM costs only when using the cloud-run service
- Automated invoicing according to your requirements
- Central overview of submitted requests with Google Sheets
Conclusion
Automated project creation in the Google Cloud Platform brings benefits to admins and accounting
With the solution we have developed, you as GCP admins save enormous manual effort in project creation. In addition, your company keeps track of costs while saving resources on administration. Since the creation of a new GCP project is done via a form and does not require any technical knowledge, each branch/location can easily do it themselves.
Do you also want to reduce your efforts in project creation? Simply contact us.