OpenAI connection

A company administrator connects OpenAI under Administration → Integrations in the AI and connections group. Use this guide to prepare the company’s account, save a project key and check a small example before using private work. Estimators do not need their own keys.

Prepare the company account and billing

1. Sign in to the OpenAI API platform using a company-controlled account. If the company already has an OpenAI organisation, ask its owner to give you access instead of creating a second organisation.
2. Confirm the selected organisation belongs to the company. Ask its owner to create a dedicated project, such as Quote Control pilot, from the project menu using Create project. Select that project before creating a key.
3. Open API billing. Have the authorised billing owner arrange payment and any required credits. A ChatGPT subscription does not pay for API requests. See OpenAI’s billing guidance.
4. Agree who will monitor usage and manage the key if its owner leaves the company. A project service account can provide company-managed system access; an OpenAI project owner can create one when that fits the company’s access policy.

OpenAI access and Quote Control roles are separate. Being a Quote Control Administrator does not grant OpenAI billing or project permissions. Follow OpenAI’s project setup instructions if you cannot create or select the intended project.

Create the project API key

1. In the selected project’s settings, open API Keys, then Create new secret key. Use a recognisable name, such as Quote Control pilot.
2. Choose Restricted permissions and allow List models: Read and Responses API: Write. The key owner must also have the corresponding project permissions. A read-only key cannot generate suggestions.
3. Check the project’s Limits → Model Usage allows the models configured for your Quote Control workspace. Ask the pilot contact to confirm those models; the Integrations form does not select them.
4. Create the key and copy its secret into the company’s approved password manager. Keep the organisation, project and key name with it. Do not rely on being able to display the full secret again. Create a replacement if it is lost.

Quote Control checks the key by listing models and creates suggestions through the Responses API. Report PDFs are sent within that request, so this workflow does not require Files, Assistants or organisation-administration access. Do not create an organisation admin key for Quote Control. OpenAI’s permissions guide explains how key permissions and the owner’s role combine.

Connect and check the key

1. Sign in to the company’s Quote Control address as an Administrator.
2. Open Administration → Integrations.
3. Paste the secret into Project key. If a connection already exists, the field is Replacement project key.
4. Choose Verify and save or Verify and replace.
5. Wait for OpenAI project key verified and saved. Check that Status is Configured and the masked suffix matches the key you intended to save.

A successful check confirms the key can list models. It does not prove the configured report or scope model can run, or that billing and quota are sufficient. A failed verification leaves the previous saved key unchanged. The input clears after the attempt; paste it again only after checking the failure.

The saved key is encrypted and cannot be read back through Quote Control. A message about a temporary deployment fallback means an operator-supplied key is in use. Save the company key, then ask the pilot contact to remove that fallback.

Caution

Enter the secret only in the protected Integrations form. Never put it in a quotation, screenshot, feedback message or support ticket.

Test a small example

When report import is enabled, use a one-page synthetic PDF containing a fictional customer and site, one completed inspection and one proposed repair. Include a clear quantity and leave a detail explicitly unknown. Use no real customer data.

1. Choose Create from engineer’s report, then Upload and analyse.
2. Wait for the proposal. Compare it with the PDF: completed work should stay separate from proposed work, the quantity should match and the unknown detail should remain open.
3. Follow the report review guide to check draft creation and human acceptance. Do not submit or issue the test as customer work.
4. Check the project’s OpenAI usage and Administration → Pilot usage. A started analysis uses the company allowance even if it fails. Usage reporting may take time to appear.

If report import is absent, ask the pilot contact about availability. Connecting a key does not enable it. You can separately test Create customer scope on a synthetic manual draft, but that does not verify report analysis.

Monitor usage and costs

Review OpenAI usage for the correct project and billing period. Ask the OpenAI organisation owner for usage visibility if the dashboard is unavailable.

OpenAI spend alerts notify you; they do not stop requests. To stop requests at a chosen amount, configure an enforced hard spend limit where available. A hard limit can interrupt analysis, and enforcement can allow a small overshoot. Follow OpenAI’s current spend-limit instructions for project and organisation settings.

Quote Control’s monthly AI-operation allowance is a separate count of started operations, not a monetary cap on the OpenAI account. Deleting a test does not restore that allowance.

Replace or revoke a key

For a planned replacement, create a new project key with the same required permissions, use Verify and replace, then run the small test again. After confirming the new key works, revoke the old key in the OpenAI project’s API Keys page and remove its obsolete password-manager entry.

If a key may have been exposed, revoke it at OpenAI promptly and arrange a new key. Suggestions may be unavailable until replacement is complete.

To remove the saved connection from Quote Control, choose Remove saved key, then Remove key. This does not revoke the key at OpenAI. Revoke it there separately when it should no longer be usable. New scope and report requests stop unless a deployment fallback remains; ask the pilot contact to remove that fallback if the company wants AI requests disabled.

Effect on existing work

Connecting, replacing or removing the key does not change saved quotations, accepted wording or earlier run traces. It does not publish company controls.

If setup or analysis fails

What you see	What to check
Key cannot be verified	Confirm the correct project, a complete unrevoked secret and List models Read permission. Check the key owner’s project access. A temporary connection failure can also prevent verification.
Configured, but suggestions fail	Check Responses API Write permission and the configured model’s availability in the project. Allow time for changed OpenAI permissions to apply.
Usage, billing or rate-limit error	Check API billing, credit balance, usage limits, enforced spend limits and request limits in OpenAI. Pause repeated retries until the cause is understood.
Company AI allowance reached	Check Pilot usage. Continue manually until the allowance resets or the pilot contact agrees a change.
Report action is missing	Ask the pilot contact whether report import is enabled. Saving a key does not change that setting.
Request timed out or result is uncertain	Refresh the report status before another analysis. Follow the report recovery steps.

Quote Control may show a general provider error instead of the precise OpenAI cause. Give the pilot contact the time, action and non-sensitive error text. Do not send the key or report as troubleshooting evidence.

Data sent and retained

Scope requests send the selected engineer notes or customer scope to the company’s configured OpenAI project. Report analysis sends the PDF and a limited selection of relevant company reference names, codes and descriptions; it does not send catalogue prices as matching context. Uploading alone or refreshing status does not contact OpenAI. Where enabled, selecting public product identification changes that same report-analysis request; it does not make a second call.

Optional parts research is a later, separately counted provider operation. It receives only confirmed public product identities and permitted public catalogue facts. It does not receive the original PDF, customer or site details, source excerpts, serial numbers, asset references, private pricing or quotation notes. The company policy and pilot allowance control whether it can start. No email, supplier contact or purchasing request is sent.

Suggestions require human review and acceptance. A report can create an editable draft before acceptance in some pilots; normal submission, independent approval where required and controlled issue still apply. See report references and suggested rates.

Read Quote Control privacy and retention and OpenAI data controls before using private reports. The company owns its OpenAI account, billing and data-processing decision. Do not assume that disabling response storage removes all provider retention.

Where available, administrators can inspect and export company-private report accuracy evidence under Administration → Report feedback. See private accuracy feedback.