Configuring Merlin for your tenant
This page is for Tenant Administrators setting Merlin up for their tenant. If you want to know what Merlin can do and how to talk to it, see the Merlin page instead.
What a Tenant Administrator controls
| Setting | What it decides | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Merlin chat availability | Whether the interactive Merlin chat appears for your users at all. | Set by Panoramic Data on request |
| AI provider | Whether answers are generated by Panoramic Data or on your own provider account (version 4.6). | Admin, then Tenant, then Merlin AI |
| Data egress consent | Whether Magic Suite may send your data to a third-party AI provider at all (version 4.6). | Admin, then Tenant, then Merlin AI |
Turning the chat off does not turn off Magic Suite's other notifications. It removes the interactive assistant only.
Your Merlin plan
From version 4.6 Merlin is a subscription in its own right, alongside your other Magic Suite products. Every tenant has one. You can see yours under Admin, then Subscriptions.
| Plan | Which AI answers | Can you use your own provider? |
|---|---|---|
| Merlin Free | Always Merlin's own model, on hardware Panoramic Data owns and operates. Nothing is sent to a third-party AI provider. | No |
| Merlin Pro | Your own provider if you elect one and consent. Otherwise Merlin's own model, unless Panoramic Data has made a provider available and you have consented. | Yes |
| Merlin Enterprise | As Merlin Pro. | Yes |
Every tenant receives Merlin Free automatically. You are never left without Merlin because a subscription was missed, and a paid plan is never downgraded by that automatic step.
Where your data goes by default
Out of the box, Merlin runs on hardware Panoramic Data owns and operates. Your questions, and anything Merlin's tools read to answer them, stay within that infrastructure and are not sent to a third-party AI provider.
That remains true until you record data egress consent. Consent is the single switch that governs this. Without it, nothing leaves our infrastructure, whichever plan you are on, whether or not you have chosen a Connection, and whether or not Panoramic Data has made a provider available. Upgrading to a new version does not change it.
Using your own AI provider (version 4.6)
On Merlin Pro and Merlin Enterprise you can have Merlin generate answers on your own AI provider account, paying that provider directly instead of using capacity supplied by Panoramic Data. This is sometimes called bring your own tokens.
Why you might
- You have a contract or a committed spend with a provider already.
- Your organisation requires AI processing under its own provider agreement.
- You want access to a model Panoramic Data does not serve on its own account.
- You want your AI spending itemised on your provider's bill rather than ours.
Why you might not
- It sends your data to a third party. That is the point of it, and it is a decision to take deliberately rather than by default.
- You become responsible for the provider account, its spending limits and its rate limits.
- Magic Suite cannot cap what your provider charges you. Set a limit at the provider.
Setting it up
- Check you are on Merlin Pro or Merlin Enterprise, under Admin, then Subscriptions. On Merlin Free the Merlin AI page explains this instead of offering a choice.
- Create an OpenAI Connection for your tenant first. See Connecting to OpenAI. It must be a tenant Connection, not a personal one.
- Go to Admin, then Tenant, then Merlin AI.
- Choose your Connection from the list. Only enabled tenant Connections of the right type appear.
- Read the consent statement and tick it. Merlin keeps using Panoramic Data's own model until you do.
- Save, then ask Merlin a question that needs one of its tools, so you are testing the whole path and not just a greeting.
Note: the two settings work together. Choosing a Connection without recording consent changes nothing, deliberately, so that nothing is ever sent to a third party by accident.
Changing your mind
Set the provider back to the Panoramic Data default at any time. Doing so also withdraws the consent you recorded, so if you later elect a provider again you will be asked to consent again. That is intentional: consent given for one arrangement should not silently carry over to the next.
If the Connection is deleted, Merlin returns to Panoramic Data's own model on its own rather than stopping.
If Panoramic Data makes a provider available to you
Panoramic Data may make a third-party AI provider available to Merlin Pro and Merlin Enterprise tenants that have not chosen a provider of their own. Where that applies, Panoramic Data holds the agreement with the provider and pays for what Merlin uses.
It is still a third-party provider, so your data only goes to it if you have recorded data egress consent. Until you do, Merlin answers on its own model on our own hardware, exactly as on Merlin Free. Consent is the switch either way; the difference is only who holds the agreement and who pays.
If you would rather use your own account than one Panoramic Data supplies, elect your own Connection as described above. Your own Connection always takes precedence.
When Merlin will not use your provider
Merlin falls back to Panoramic Data's own model, rather than failing, whenever your election cannot be used. The reasons are recorded in the logs for your administrators.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| No consent recorded | Tick the consent box on the Merlin AI page. |
| Your plan is Merlin Free | Merlin Free always uses Panoramic Data's own model. Talk to us about Merlin Pro. |
| The Connection was deleted | Create a new Connection and elect it. |
| A personal Connection was chosen | Create a tenant Connection instead. Merlin will not bill one person for the tenant. |
| The Connection is missing its key or model | Edit the Connection and complete both. |
| Answers arrive but are vague or unsourced | The endpoint may not support tool calling. See below. |
Which provider answered
When your own provider answers, Merlin says so on the message, naming the model. That line is how you tell a working arrangement from one that has quietly fallen back: every fall back above is silent by design, so that a misconfiguration costs you a better model rather than an answer.
No such line means Panoramic Data's AI answered.
Tool calling, and why it matters
Merlin answers most useful questions by calling tools that read your Magic Suite data. An endpoint that does not implement tool calling will still answer, fluently and confidently, from the conversation alone, with nothing behind the answer.
If you point Merlin at a gateway, a proxy or a self-hosted server rather than the provider itself, confirm it supports tool calling before you rely on it. The symptom is answers that sound right and are not grounded in your data.
Merlin tells you when this happens, on the answer itself, rather than leaving you to notice.
What it costs
When Merlin runs on your own provider, that provider bills you directly for what it uses and Panoramic Data does not charge you for it. Set a spending limit at the provider: Magic Suite cannot enforce one on your behalf.
When Merlin runs on Panoramic Data's AI, use is covered by your subscription.
Questions worth settling before you switch
- Does your organisation's data protection position allow this provider to process your data?
- Who owns the provider account, and what happens when that person leaves?
- What spending limit is set, and who is told when it is reached?
- Who will notice if Merlin quietly falls back to Panoramic Data's AI?
