- A
Use a cross-project service account in the CI/CD project with required roles (e.g., Cloud Run Admin, Compute Admin) on target projects via IAM.
Centralized service account with cross-project IAM is best practice; it simplifies management and audit.
- B
Use Cloud Build triggers directly in each target project with separate code repositories.
Why wrong: Decentralizes the pipeline, losing centralized control and oversight.
- C
Grant the Cloud Build Editor role to all developers across projects to allow them to create pipelines.
Why wrong: Overly permissive and insecure; violates least privilege.
- D
Create a separate service account in each target project with the Cloud Build service agent role, and use impersonation from the CI/CD project.
Why wrong: This increases IAM administration and complexity.
PCDOE Practice Question: Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps
This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of bootstrapping a google cloud organization for devops. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A large enterprise is designing a centralized DevOps platform across multiple business units. They want to use a shared CI/CD pipeline that deploys to projects in different folders. Which approach ensures secure, auditable deployments while minimizing IAM administration?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use a cross-project service account in the CI/CD project with required roles (e.g., Cloud Run Admin, Compute Admin) on target projects via IAM.
Option A is correct because a cross-project service account in the CI/CD project, granted the necessary roles (e.g., Cloud Run Admin, Compute Admin) on target projects via IAM, allows the shared pipeline to deploy resources across folders without duplicating service accounts. This centralizes IAM administration, ensures auditability through a single identity, and follows the principle of least privilege by granting only required roles on target projects.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use a cross-project service account in the CI/CD project with required roles (e.g., Cloud Run Admin, Compute Admin) on target projects via IAM.
Why this is correct
Centralized service account with cross-project IAM is best practice; it simplifies management and audit.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use Cloud Build triggers directly in each target project with separate code repositories.
Why it's wrong here
Decentralizes the pipeline, losing centralized control and oversight.
- ✗
Grant the Cloud Build Editor role to all developers across projects to allow them to create pipelines.
Why it's wrong here
Overly permissive and insecure; violates least privilege.
- ✗
Create a separate service account in each target project with the Cloud Build service agent role, and use impersonation from the CI/CD project.
Why it's wrong here
This increases IAM administration and complexity.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the Cloud Build service agent role (used for internal Cloud Build operations) with the cross-project service account pattern, leading them to choose Option D, which adds unnecessary administrative overhead instead of leveraging IAM's native cross-project delegation.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The cross-project service account approach leverages Google Cloud's IAM policy inheritance and the ability to attach a service account from one project to resources in another project via the `serviceAccount` field in deployment manifests. Under the hood, the CI/CD pipeline authenticates as the service account, and the target project's IAM bindings evaluate the caller's identity, enabling fine-grained audit logging via Cloud Audit Logs with the `principalEmail` of the shared service account. In a real-world scenario, this simplifies key rotation and compliance because only one service account key needs to be managed, and access can be revoked centrally.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCDOE question test?
Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — This question tests Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a cross-project service account in the CI/CD project with required roles (e.g., Cloud Run Admin, Compute Admin) on target projects via IAM. — Option A is correct because a cross-project service account in the CI/CD project, granted the necessary roles (e.g., Cloud Run Admin, Compute Admin) on target projects via IAM, allows the shared pipeline to deploy resources across folders without duplicating service accounts. This centralizes IAM administration, ensures auditability through a single identity, and follows the principle of least privilege by granting only required roles on target projects.
What should I do if I get this PCDOE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
This PCDOE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCDOE exam.
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