CloudM Continuity keeps your Google Workspace environment ready to use at all times. However, to ensure a smooth failover when a Microsoft 365 outage occurs, you should regularly verify that your environment is in a healthy state. This article provides a checklist of the key areas to monitor.
Readiness checklist
| Check | Where to verify | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Sync freshness | Dashboard → Last successful sync | The last successful sync should be recent; the timestamp is colour-coded by freshness. For per-user detail, check the Sync Status page for users with stale data and investigate before relying on failover. |
| User provisioning | Dashboard → Sync pipeline | All users should have completed their initial sync and be in the Synced stage. Users still in the Waiting or Initial Sync stage will have incomplete data in Google Workspace. |
| Sync status | Sync Status page | Check for users with a failed status. Failed syncs mean data is not up to date for those users. The Failed Users card on the dashboard gives you the headline count. |
| Connection health | Connections page | Both your Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace connections should be valid. Expired or invalid credentials will prevent syncs from running. |
| Policy coverage | Policies page | Verify that all critical users are covered by at least one active sync policy. Users not matched by any active policy will not have data in Google Workspace. If a user is matched by more than one policy, the highest-priority active policy applies, so check your policy order reflects what you intend. |
| Google Workspace access | Google Workspace admin console | Confirm that your users can sign in to Google Workspace. If user provisioning is handled by CloudM Continuity, verify that accounts have been created successfully. |
Sync freshness and your sync tier
The maximum data gap during a failover depends on your sync frequency tier:
| Tier | Sync frequency | Maximum data gap |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Weekly | Up to 7 days |
| Standard | Daily | Up to 24 hours |
| Premium | Hourly | Up to 1 hour |
The data gap represents the maximum amount of email data that could be missing from Google Workspace at the point of failover.
Preparing your users
A smooth failover depends on your end users knowing what to do. Consider the following:
- Communicate the plan — Ensure users know they should switch to Google Workspace during an M365 outage. Share sign-in details and access instructions in advance.
- Test access — Have users verify they can log in to Google Workspace before an outage occurs. Address any access issues proactively.
- Prepare a notification template — Draft an internal communication (email, Slack, Teams, or intranet) that can be sent quickly when an outage is detected, directing users to Google Workspace.
-
Bookmark Google Workspace — Encourage users to bookmark
mail.google.comso they can access it immediately.
Know your recovery route
Failover readiness also means knowing what happens once the outage ends. Recovery is not automatic: an administrator starts a Recovery Sync from the Recovery page, which copies mail created in Google Workspace during the outage back to Microsoft 365. Make sure the admins who would handle an outage have read Understanding Recovery Sync and Starting a recovery before they need them.
Regular readiness checks
We recommend reviewing this checklist at least weekly, or after making changes to your sync policies, connections, or user base. The CloudM Continuity dashboard provides all the information you need at a glance.