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Admin Guide - QCD AI Agent

This guide is for the QCD Autocentre Brackley team (reception, workshop manager, service advisors). It covers what each page does and how to use it day to day.

Dashboard overview

When you sign in at /admin, the sidebar gives you every page. The overview page is your daily summary: how many conversations today, how many leads, average AI confidence, and escalation rate.

Conversations - reading and handling chats

The Conversations page (/admin/conversations) shows every customer conversation.

Left panel: List of chats. Search by topic or visitor name. Filter pills let you see only open, escalated, or closed chats. Sort by newest, oldest, or lowest confidence.

Right panel: The full transcript. Each message shows who sent it (visitor or assistant) and when.

Actions:

  • Resolve - mark a conversation as closed. Do this after you have replied or the enquiry is complete.
  • Archive - same as resolve but gives a confirmation prompt.
  • Escalate - flag a conversation that needs manager attention.
  • Delete conversation - permanently removes it. Only do this if the conversation is spam or test data.
  • Reply by email - opens your email client with the customer's query pre-filled.

AI evidence section: Under each assistant message you can see the confidence score (green = high, amber = medium, red = low) and which knowledge base articles the AI cited.

Booking Requests - processing customer bookings

The Booking Requests page (/admin/booking-requests) shows every booking request that came through the chat widget.

Left panel: List of requests. Filter by status (New, Awaiting review, Contacted, Quote prepared, Booked, Declined, Closed).

Right panel: Full details:

  • Service requested
  • Booking preference (date, time, collection/delivery)
  • Vehicle details (make, model, reg, MOT expiry, mileage)
  • Contact details (phone, email)
  • Notes and symptoms

Status workflow: Each status has a set of next-step buttons. Follow them in order: 1. New → Awaiting review or Declined 2. Awaiting review → Contacted or Declined 3. Contacted → Quote prepared, Booked in Motasoft, or Declined 4. Quote prepared → Booked in Motasoft or Declined 5. Booked in Motasoft → Closed

Use "Booked in Motasoft" once you have entered the booking into Motasoft. The booking request is NOT a confirmed booking until you confirm it.

Actions: Email customer, Call, Archive, Delete. Always email or call before archiving a booking.

Leads - following up enquiries

The Leads page (/admin/leads) shows leads captured through the chat widget.

Each lead has: name, contact details, vehicle info, enquiry type, score (how likely to convert), and status.

Change status as you work through leads: new → contacted → qualified → booked → completed or lost.

Use the export button to download CSV for Motasoft import.

Knowledge Base - managing what the AI knows

The Knowledge Base (/admin/knowledge) contains articles that the AI uses to answer customer questions.

Left panel: Article list. Filter by status (Published, Needs review, Draft, Archived).

Right panel: Article editor. You can:

  • Edit the title, category, body, status, and visibility
  • Use the formatting toolbar (Bold, Italic, List, Heading)
  • See a live preview of how the article renders
  • Approve - mark a "Needs review" article as published (the AI can now use it)
  • Delete - remove the article entirely

Articles marked as "needs review" are NOT shown to customers. Only published articles are used by the AI.

Test the knowledge base: Scroll down to the test card. Type a question and click "Run test" to see which articles the AI would retrieve. This helps you check if the AI has good answers before customers ask.

Pricing - managing service prices

The Pricing page (/admin/pricing) controls what prices the AI can show to customers.

Confidence levels:

  • Fixed price - exact price, approved (e.g. MOT at £45)
  • Strong estimate - close estimate, approved
  • Indicative range - from/to range
  • Needs human quote - requires team review before quoting
  • Cannot quote online - always pass to team

Key settings on each service:

  • Display toggle - controls whether customers see this service
  • Approved toggle - must be on AND display on for the AI to quote a price
  • Customer-facing blurb, pricing kind (fixed/from/range), and prices

Bulk actions: "Approve all in view" approves every service in the current filter. "Set all visible" makes them displayable. Both persist to the database.

Use the search box to find services by name, category, or code.

Pricing Review (/admin/pricing-review) highlights services without prices or with low confidence. Use this to find gaps.

AI Settings - configuring the assistant

The AI Settings page (/admin/ai-settings) controls how the AI thinks and responds.

Provider and model: Pick DeepSeek (recommended for QCD), OpenAI, or another provider. Each has recommended models. Set your API key (encrypted before storage).

Test console: Type a customer question and click "Run test" to see how the AI would respond. Uses live settings.

House rules: Custom behavioural rules for the AI. Enable/disable per rule. Add new rules with a title and description. Rules override or supplement the default behaviours.

Advanced: Temperature (creativity vs caution) and confidence threshold (below this, the AI passes to a human).

Email Settings

The Email Settings page (/admin/email) configures how notifications are sent.

Provider: IONOS SMTP (recommended) or Resend. Fill in the SMTP host, port, username, and password. Leave the password blank to keep the existing one.

From address: Usually QCD Autocentre <info@qcdauto.co.uk>

Testing: Send a test email to verify the setup works.

Widget Settings

The Widget Settings page (/admin/widget) controls how the chat widget looks on qcdauto.co.uk.

  • Launcher label (the button text)
  • Welcome title and subtitle
  • Consent text (GDPR disclaimer)
  • Position (bottom-right or bottom-left)
  • Colours (primary and accent)
  • Quick actions (suggested questions shown to customers)

Copy the embed snippet to add the widget to a new website page.

Garage Operations

The Garage Operations page (/admin/garage-operations) configures the handoff between the AI and your workflow.

  • Manual email handoff: Booking request emails go to this address (usually info@qcdauto.co.uk).
  • Webhook URL: Reserved for future direct Motasoft integration.
  • QCD+ Membership toggle: Enable QCD+ member discounts in the AI.
  • DVSA MOT Lookup: Toggle between live DVSA data and mock data for testing.

Analytics

The Analytics page (/admin/analytics) shows charts and metrics from real data.

  • Daily trend chart: Conversations (bars) and leads (line) over the last 14 days. Click a bar to jump to the conversations page.
  • Top topics: What customers ask about most.
  • Weak answers: Questions the AI struggled with - click "Add to KB" to improve coverage.
  • Export CSV: Download all data for external analysis.