FlyingBinary Ltd

G Suite (formerly Google Apps)

Featuring full web-based architecture, real-time document editing and multi-device access, G Suite service resides in the FlyingBinary collaboration suite, simplifying email, document and calendar integration and management. The Google engine ensures that data is instantly available anywhere, and huge storage allowances eliminate the overhead of quota management.

Features

  • Fully redundant, distributed storage in multiple locations
  • Concurrent access on multiple devices
  • Real-time document editing and collaboration
  • Full web-based architecture for all applications
  • Service updates delivered incrementally and include training
  • Huge storage allowances for every user account
  • Policy based email retention, with advanced audit and admin functions
  • Integrated voice and video messaging and calls
  • Integrated instant messaging to improve realtime collaboration

Benefits

  • Multiple data locations eliminate data loss due to outage
  • All data is accessible on whatever device you're using
  • All team members see the same, current document version
  • Web architecture eliminates client software, simplifying deployment and management
  • Incremental update minimises retraining and migration costs
  • Huge storage eliminates the overhead of quota management
  • Email retention facilitates legal discovery and audit
  • Zero overhead account management improves flexibility
  • Real-time multiuser editing enhances user collaboration
  • Enterprise ready to simplify large scale roll out

Pricing

£4.60 a user a month

  • Education pricing available
  • Free trial available

Service documents

Framework

G-Cloud 12

Service ID

1 1 3 5 1 6 6 1 8 4 2 3 9 7 6

Contact

FlyingBinary Ltd Dr Jacqui Taylor
Telephone: +44 77 899 668 02
Email: jacqui.taylor@flyingbinary.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
The service is only available over the public internet, not within public sector networks.
System requirements
A desktop or mobile web browser

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Support service is provided 24x7 directly by Google. Standard support case response time is within 8 hours.
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Standard support service is provided 24x7 directly by Google. We can additionally offer onsite support at extra cost. The support service is provided for issues, incidents and service requests. We will also respond to questions about how to use the service, but we reserve the right to direct clients to our training services if users are clearly not equipped to use the service competently.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
There are four types of onboarding help available, which may be used in combination: online help; key contact getting started assistance; additional onboarding assistance; service training courses. Key contact getting started assistance is included within the cost of the service. It is usually conducted as an interactive web screenshare session, but may also be provided as a pre-recorded video session with a follow up teleconference, or as an onsite session. Onsite sessions outside the M25 area will incur an additional cost. Online help is available to all client users of the service and is included within the cost. Additional onboarding assistance and service training courses are both provided via the companion Cloud Support service.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
The service has built-in tools that allow user data extraction. These tools are available at any time, not just at contract end, and may be used for any data extraction purpose required. There are no restrictions: all user data may be extracted from the service for any reason, at any time. User data extraction does not require supplier intervention, but clients may choose to limit this functionality to client super users or administrators. There is no limit to the number or size of data extractions performed. The companion Cloud Support service offers additional assistance with data extraction, at an additional cost.
End-of-contract process
Prior to the end of contract/contract renewal date, we discuss the forward plan with the client key contact. In the event of contract end, we work with the key contact to ensure that all user data and collateral is retrieved or extracted before the contract end date. Although there are standard data extraction tools built in to the service, there may be a requirement for special data migration to the client's chosen new service. In that instance, we can work with the new supplier to migrate data to maximum benefit for the client, such work would be performed within the companion Cloud Support service and incur an additional charge. In the event that the client is unable to extract all required data before the contract end date, it is often possible to extend the duration of the data extraction features of the service for an additional period; or to extend the full service for an additional period; so that the client does not suffer unnecessary unavailability.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari 9+
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
All standard features of the desktop service are available on mobile devices. The presentation and navigation of features is reformatted to provide a mobile-friendly experience for smaller screen sizes. Some design and administration features may be more difficult, or not available on mobile devices.
Service interface
Yes
Description of service interface
The service employs a modern, simple, browser-based, easy-to-use interface to provide a unified approach for users to interact with the service. Choosing browser-based over an installed application simplifies security, enterprise deployment and ensures that the service is evergreen without costly software upgrades. See answers to other questions concerning browser specifics. All standard user features are available via desktop or mobile web browsers. Mobile browsers are optimised to work with touch input, while desktop browsers support accessibility tools and software.
Accessibility standards
None or don’t know
Description of accessibility
Google Apps are tested against Google Accessibility Requirements (GAR), which is a combination of US Section 508, WCAG, and US Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). Google therefore doesn't claim conformance against WCAG specifically, but instead issues Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT), that describe all the areas where the product supports the detail of Section 508. All the primary apps: Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms either support or support with minor exceptions, the provisions of Section 508 applicable to each application.
Accessibility testing
A central team internal to Google performs all the accessibility testing to make sure it stays consistent. The testing consists of both automated and manual testing. Google Apps are tested against Google Accessibility Requirements (GAR), which is a combination of US Section 508, WCAG, and US Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). Individual products also perform testing at different phases in the development cycle, depending on that product's needs. There is also an external team of a few thousand people outside Google who additional perform ongoing accessibility testing with Google applications.
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
Google provides a comprehensive set of APIs and SDKs that allow automation of practically every function of Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms using several common languages and frameworks, such as .NET, Android, Go, Google Apps Script, iOS, Java, JavaScript, Node.js, PHP, Python and Ruby. In addition to app-specific APIs, there are also APIs for management functions such as Admin Settings, Enterprise Licenses, Calendar Resources, Data Transfer, Directory Admin, Groups Settings and Reports.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
HTML
API sandbox or test environment
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Client Administrators have access to the Admin Console, where settings and configuration for all Google Apps can be managed. The Admin Console controls both under-the-hood functions like spam handling, mail routing and retention, and default document sharing as well as user-visible functions like document templates, colour themes, delegation and shared resources. The Console also provides management control for more than 50 additional Google services included within G Suite, including for example YouTube, Maps, Google Analytics, Blogger, Groups and the Google Developers Console. All the application modules include on/off controls so you can enable or disable each application for your whole organisation or for specific departments or teams.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Google's infrastructure is designed and managed so that no services can be impacted from failure of any single component, from a physical hard disk to an entire data centre. With millions of users and billions of transactions per day, Google's global infrastructure is designed to ensure that resources are made available to any user, irrespective of their current demand. Google's Site Reliability Engineering discipline ensures that applications and infrastructure work together for maximum reliability and performance.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Real-time dashboards are accessible by client Administrators via the Admin Console. These dashboards provide information on user activity, number and type of applications accessed and used, and license and storage allocation consumption. There are also dashboards covering specific security activities, admin actions, user logins and audit functions. Report results are downloadable as CSV data for further analysis in other tools.
Reporting types
Real-time dashboards

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller providing extra support
Organisation whose services are being resold
Google Inc

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Conforms to BS7858:2012
Government security clearance
Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • EU-US Privacy Shield agreement locations
User control over data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Penetration testing approach
Another external penetration testing organisation
Protecting data at rest
Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
There are tools built in to the service that allow users to export their data. User data export does not require supplier intervention, but clients may choose to limit this functionality to client super users or administrators. Users may specifiy any subset, or all, of the data that is relevent to the current export requirement. Once the data subset has been selected, invoking the export function creates a CSV file corresponding to the selection. This CSV file is then downloaded to the user computer for the required purpose.
Data export formats
  • ODF
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • Open document formats and pdf for documents, spreadsheets and presentations
  • Rich text format and plain text for text documents
  • JPEG, PNG, PDF and SVG for drawings
  • MBOX format for mail
  • ICalendar for calendars
  • GeoJSON for map saved places
Data import formats
  • ODF
  • Other
Other data import formats
  • Open document formats for documents, spreadsheets and presentations
  • Rich text format and plain text for text documents
  • MBOX format for mail
  • ICalendar for calendars
  • GeoJSON for map saved places

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
TLS (version 1.2 or above)
Data protection within supplier network
Other
Other protection within supplier network
User data is broken into subfile chunks and encrypted with a per-chunk encryption key that is 128-bit or stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Data in transit within the network remains encrypted unless requested by the user, when it is decrypted and the chunks are reassembled into the original user data form.

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
G Suite offers a 99.9% Service Level Agreement (SLA) for covered services, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and in recent years we’ve exceeded this promise. In 2013, Gmail achieved 99.978% availability. Furthermore, Google Apps Suite has no scheduled downtime or maintenance windows. Availability is measured 24x7 on a monthly basis. If any service fails the availability SLA, additional days of service are added to the service term at no charge to the customer. For failures in the range 99.9% - 99.0% 3 days credit; 99.0% - 95.0% 7 days; below 95% 15 days; to a maximum of 15 days in any service month.
Approach to resilience
Google's application and network architecture is designed for maximum reliability and uptime. Google's computing platform assumes ongoing hardware failure, and it uses robust software failover to withstand disruption. All Google systems are inherently redundant by design, and each subsystem is not dependent on any particular physical or logical server for ongoing operation. Data is replicated multiple times across Google's clustered active servers so that, in the case of a machine failure, data will still be accessible through another system. We also replicate data to secondary data centers to ensure protection from data center failures. Google has a business continuity plan for its data centers and production operations. This plan accounts for major disasters such as earthquakes and public health crises, and it assumes people and services may be unavailable for up to 30 days. This plan is designed to enable continued delivery of our services to our customers.
Outage reporting
G Suite performance status is reported via an online real-time dashboard. The information presented in the dashboard is also available as an RSS feed.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
There are two type of management access, for client super users and for supplier administrators. Client management access is limited to designated user accounts that have super user or admin status. Supplier management access is limited to designated user accounts. Supplier management user accounts use two factor authentication.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
2-factor authentication

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
EY CertifyPoint
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
15 April 2019
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Some applications are not covered, for example YouTube, Drawings, Google AdWords.
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
  • ISO/IEC 27017:2015 by EY CertifyPoint on 15/04/2019
  • ISO/IEC 27018:2019 by EY CertifyPoint on 17/04/2020
  • SOC 3 audit by EY CertifyPoint 01/05/2020
  • Cyber Essentials

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
No
Security governance approach
Our security governance is meshed with our corporate governance, with our CEO having final responsibility for G-Cloud services and governance policies and our CTO having day-to-day responsibility for policy implementation. Our policies cover people, processes, technology and information assets, at board, management and operational levels. We review our policies and update our practices in light of new regulation, standards and best practice to ensure we are able to counter current and emerging threats.
Information security policies and processes
Our information security policy follows guidance in ISO27001, is owned by our CEO and implemented by our CTO. The top level Information Security Policy is supported by Architecture, Operations and Client Access policies. The policy states security objectives and establishes principles to ensure current and continued adherance and continual improvement. The policy set is integral to staff induction and all staff are required to agree and accept that information security governance is a core working principle. Operational checklists enforce security practices at the day to day level, and activities cannot be signed off without verified completion. The checklists also contain sections for feedback and challenge so that we actively improve. All staff are expected to challenge, because if we don't, bad actors will. Standard reporting flows from operational analyst or team lead to manager to CTO, but any staff member can invoke exceptional reporting directly to management or board, to ensure that important issues receive appropriate attention. Internal reviews ensure that all information security processes are working smoothly and as designed. If exceptions are found, we perform root cause analysis to understand if/how we need to change working practice to support our information security objectives.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Service hardware components are managed by our data centre suppliers. Component lifecycle management is accredited to ISO27001, including storage overwrite and secure destruction. Service software is assembled from existing software components (proprietary and open source), is obtained only from the official repository, and security checked before use. No custom software is used. The service deployment checklist records all versions and change dates. Planned infrastructure or software changes are reviewed for new or changed features or capabilities, and internal software library dependencies. If needed, configurations are changed to disable unnecessary new features or mitigate any additional security exposure.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
We monitor vulnerability feeds, vendor and security researcher blogs to understand emerging threats. We then make an assessment to confirm any potential to affect service, and if so, determine severity and likelihood. Based on our assessments, we create a mitigation plan that may include a change to operation practice, a planned upgrade or an emergency upgrade. Operational changes and emergency upgrades are carried out as soon as reasonably practical following assessment and planning. Planned upgrades are accommodated within the normal upgrade or patching cycle.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
System event monitoring is used to facilitate the identification, classification and analysis of potential security incidents. Any security-related incident is classified as a severely service affecting incident, is escalated accordingly and actioned immediately. Different techniques and processes are employed to mitigate and recover service integrity, depending on the nature of the incursion. Further details are available on request.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
All service incidents follow a standard process. A triage step classifies to: common event not service affecting; service affecting; severely service affecting. Common events are handled by following a routine process. Events affecting service severely are immediately escalated to acquire necessary resource and management support. All other incidents are handled by the respective support team. Clients can report incidents by email to the support team. Update reports and communications are issued for all client-reported and service affecting incidents. When service affecting incidents are resolved, root cause analysis is performed to determine mitigating actions.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Pricing

Price
£4.60 a user a month
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
All G Suite features are available for a 30 day free trial with no commitment. Alternatively, a free personal G Suite account can be created with no time limit to explore standard personal (non-enterprise) functions.

Service documents