Smart Teams are Google Groups managed by CloudM Automate rules. Because they are Google Groups at their core, they have a group email address and support all native Google Workspace group functions — including Drive permissions, mailing lists, and calendar sharing.
CloudM Automate adds a management layer on top, allowing administrators to apply offboarding workflows, backup policies, and profile field inheritance without disrupting your domain's organisational structure.
Navigate to Directory > Smart Teams to access the Smart Teams screen.
Creating Smart Teams
Smart Teams can be created in several ways:
- Manual creation — use the CloudM Automate wizard to create a new Smart Team and its corresponding Google Group.
- Advanced search — run a search within CloudM Automate and create a Smart Team directly from the results.
- Group conversion — convert an existing Google Group into a Smart Team to unlock CloudM Automate automations.
- OU conversion — create a Smart Team directly from an existing Organisational Unit.
For step-by-step instructions refer to the Create a new Smart Team article.
Dynamic membership
Smart Team membership can be driven by search terms, so users automatically join or leave a team as they move roles or their profile changes. Smart Teams can also act as a virtual field for Organisation Details — when a user joins a team, they can inherit specific profile data assigned to that team, such as a shared office address.
Priority and search-and-claim logic
A user can belong to multiple Smart Teams and an Organisational Unit at the same time. CloudM Automate uses a top-down priority system to resolve configuration conflicts. The Smart Team list is scanned from top to bottom — the first team with a specific feature enabled will claim that setting for the user. Any feature enabled within a Smart Team takes precedence over settings defined at the OU level.
Use the Reorder feature to control which Smart Teams take priority.
Smart Team tabs
Selecting a Smart Team opens a panel with three tabs:
| Tab | Description |
|---|---|
| Members | Manage membership and roles (Member, Manager, or Owner). |
| Details | View and edit Access Level, Tags, and Extra Information. |
| Shared | Manage Shared Drives, Calendars, and documents synced to the team. |
Configure options
The Configure menu allows you to set automated policies that override OU-level settings. Available options depend on your tier:
| Option | Description | Available on |
|---|---|---|
| Profile Fields | Control inheritance for profile fields. Enabling a field here ensures it takes priority over OU-level settings. | All tiers |
| Email Signatures | Apply a specific email signature template to all members of the team. | All tiers |
| Backup | Apply a backup policy to all members of the team. | Essential, Pro, and Enterprise |
| Offboarding | Define the offboarding workflow triggered when members leave the team or the organisation. | Essential, Pro, and Enterprise |
Related articles
- FAQ: Why are my configurations inherited from different Smart Teams?
- How Smart Team inheritance overrides OU settings
Need help? Contact CloudM Support