In an effort to help Google Apps admins monitor and analyze their Google Drive content, Google is now delivering audit logs in the Reports section of the Admin console, as well as the Reports API. This recent launch brings improvements to reporting, including better transparency to outside user identity, actions taken by outside users, and aggregated statistics surrounding internal user behavior.
A breakdown of Drive reporting optimizations:
- If a user outside of your domain views or takes action on a document explicitly shared with them (as an individual or as part of a specific group), Google will now show that event and that user’s details. Previously, this would be recorded as an anonymous user event.
- If a user outside of your domain takes action on a document shared with the public via link sharing, Google will now show that event in the audit logs as an anonymous user edit event. Previously, only anonymous user views were recorded.
- In addition to the customer usage and user usage reports already in the Reports API, Google now shows aggregated statistics around user behavior, like creating, editing, viewing, and trashing. These new metrics will only be accessible via the Reports API.
The first of these two features are only available to Google Apps Unlimited and Google Apps for Education users.
