Approving Pitt AI Connect Funding

Tags AI

Overview

Pitt AI Connect is the University's centralized self-service platform for generating AI API keys and integrating leading AI models into development projects and applications. AI Connect is operated by Pitt Digital and interfaces with Portkey, an LLM gateway that provides a single interface to many of today's most widely used large language models.

Because AI Connect is self-service, any member of the Pitt community can sign in, create a project, and request the ability to use one of their department's GL accounts to pay for AI model consumption. To protect departmental funds, AI Connect requires the financial approver responsible for a GL account to authorize its use before any charges can post against it.

This article explains the service, the approval workflow, and what to look at before you approve.

Audience

This article is intended for department administrators, RC Account Administrators, principal investigators, and other financial approvers who have been asked to authorize the use of a University GL account for AI Connect.

How AI Connect Is Funded

  • The AI Connect application itself is free to use — there is no subscription charge for creating projects or API keys.
  • Charges apply only when an API key is used to call an AI model. Each model is billed at the vendor-published rate at the time of use.
  • All AI Connect consumption is billed to a designated 32-digit University GL Account via internal GL transfer, using Subcode 6490.
  • Each project has a Monthly Budget. The system will stop API traffic for the project once that monthly limit is reached, preventing unexpected overages. (Is this true?)
  • Optional Monthly Budget Alert thresholds can be set so the project's billing contact receives a warning before the limit is hit.

The Approval Workflow

At a high level, the approval flow works like this:

  1. A user in your department signs in to aiconnect.pitt.edu and creates a new project. They enter a GL Account, a Monthly Budget, a Billing Primary contact, a Technical Primary contact, and a Dashboard AD Group.
  2. AI Connect routes a request for authorization to the financial approver of the GL account that was entered.
  3. As the approver, you receive a notification with a summary of the request and a link to Docusign to review and respond.
  4. You verify the GL account, subcode, budget, contacts, and AD group, and then approve or reject the request.
  5. Once approved, the requestor can generate API keys, and AI Connect begins tracking consumption against the GL account. Charges are reflected in the Cloud Billing and Usage Tableau Dashboard.

If you reject the request, the requestor is notified and the project cannot incur charges against the GL account. The requestor may revise the project (for example, use a different GL account or adjust the budget) and resubmit.

What to Review Before Approving

Before approving an AI Connect funding request, confirm the following:

Item to Verify

What to Check

GL Account

The 32-digit account is correct, active, and one the requestor is authorized to use.

Subcode

Subcode 6490 is the standard subcode for AI Connect charges.

Monthly Budget

Amount is reasonable for the stated purpose. The system stops API traffic when the monthly budget is reached.

Project Name and Description

Clearly identify the work being supported (grant, course, administrative initiative, etc.).

Technical Primary

The person responsible for the API keys and technical use of the project.

Billing Primary

The person you would route billing questions to for this project.

Billing/Dashboard AD Group

Members of this Active Directory group will see this project's spend in the Cloud Billing and Usage Tableau Dashboard.

 

Where AI Connect Charges Show Up

AI Connect usage data is captured nightly and loaded into the standard Pitt Cloud Billing data pipeline. Charges appear as a new provider block labelled "AI Connect" in the Cloud Billing and Usage Tableau Dashboard, alongside Azure, AWS, Google, PPC, and Other.

From the dashboard you can view AI Connect spend by:

  • Project
  • AI model (e.g., GPT, Claude, Gemini)
  • User
  • Date range

Threshold alerting and the PCR360 SFTP export workflow used for cloud cost reporting include AI Connect costs alongside other cloud providers, so AI Connect fits into the reports and alerts your department already uses.

Granting Visibility to Your Finance Team

If you want additional members of your finance team to see AI Connect spend for a project, add their Pitt accounts to the Active Directory Billing/Dashboard Group that was entered on the project record. Members of that AD group automatically gain access to the project's data in the Cloud Billing and Usage Tableau Dashboard. Your RC Account Administrator can help create or modify the AD group.

Getting Help

For questions about Pitt AI Connect, the approval workflow, or AI Connect billing, submit a Pitt Technology Support service request through the Pitt IT service portal.

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