Refactor template simple_parse

The places that use simple_parse all have to check if the returned value
is a dict, so that logic can be safely moved into simple_parse itself to
avoid duplication.

Co-Authored-By: Asif Choudhury <choudhury.asif@gmail.com>
Change-Id: I973f97fa5ce46e7492611555759d20131b98ab07
Merge "Refactor template simple_parse"