Google Play Service Account Setup

Introduction

The Google Play Developer API is required to publish Campus App and perform app-management tasks for the Android version of the Campus App. To start using the Developer API, the first step is to set up and manage the Google Play Developer API directly from the Google Play Console, followed by creating Service Account and granting Admin access to Ready Education Team. The API can only be managed by the owner of your Google Play Developer account. Please review Create a Google Play Account as it is a pre-requisite for this. The following instructions explain how to set up the Service Account:

• 1. Set up a new API project
  2. Create a service account to access the API
  3. Grant Admin Access to the "ReadyEducationPublisher" Service Account
  4. Create a Google Auth JSON file and share it with Ready Education Team

1. Creating a new API project and link to Google Play Console

In order to access the Developer API, it is required to link your Google Play Console to an API project. It is recommended to create a new API project for this. Following are the steps:

1. Go to the API Access page on the Google Play Console. (It is usually located in Settings>>Developer Account>> API Access)
2. Accept the Terms of Service.
3. Click Create new project.

An API project is automatically generated and linked to your Google Play Console.

Detailed instructions for API on Google Developers website.

3. Grant "Admin" Access to ReadyEducationPublisher Service Account

Now that the Service Account "ReadyEducationPublisher" is created, proceed with the step to Grant Access to the service account.

1. Go to the API Access page on the Google Play Console. (It is usually located in Settings>>Developer Account>> API Access)
2. Find the newly created Service Account "ReadyEducationPublisher" and Click on "Grant Access"
3. On the page with permissions, ensure to select "Admin" at the Account Level so that Ready Education Team will have full permissions to publish and manage the Campus App. If it is required to have fewer permissions, please reach please submit a request at Ready Education Help Center.
4. Lastly, Click on Invite User and Send Invite to complete the process.

4. Create a Google Auth JSON file and share it with Ready Education Team

Each service account is associated with two sets of public/private RSA key pairs that are used for authentication. Once the Service Account is created, create a JSON Key pair to share it with the Ready Education Team who will then use it to publish the Campus App to the Google Play Store.

a. Generate a JSON Key for the Service Account

Upon creating the service account, the following steps will help you generate a key pair to share with Ready Education Team to be able to publish updates to the Campus App.

• On the Google Cloud Platform where the Service Account  ReadyEducationPublisher was created, under "Actions" select Manage Keys and click on Add Key followed by Create New Key.
• Make sure to select JSON format for the Key Type and download the private key on your device.

 b. Upload the Auth JSON file to Ready Education

Now that the JSON Key is available on your machine, please use the Secure Link that is shared by the Ready Education Team (submit a request if you do not have one) to upload the JSON key pair. Failure to use the Secure Link generated by Ready Education Team could potentially lead to extended process.

• Make sure to select "Android Google Play Service Account Auth JSON " from the dropdown and upload the JSON file you saved from the above steps. 
• Once the upload is successful, a notification will appear with confirmation. Please take a screen capture and share it with the Support Team at Ready Education for the next steps.