Does Yes AI work with KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll)?

Yes. KeyPay, now branded Employment Hero Payroll, is one of the most common payroll platforms in Australian SMEs, and we build integrations and automation around it regularly. We connect it both ways to the other systems you run and automate the admin around each pay run. At discovery we confirm your exact version, your pay frequencies and the systems you want it talking to.

What can actually be automated around it?

The repetitive work that surrounds payroll: syncing new starters and employee changes across systems, importing approved timesheets before a pay run, posting the payroll journal to your accounting system after it, sending payslips and pay run notifications, refreshing wages and leave dashboards, and flagging exceptions like missing timesheets or roster-versus-pay mismatches. If your team does it by hand every pay run, it is usually a candidate for automation.

How long does it take?

Most projects go live in 2 to 6 weeks, phased deliberately. We start with the sync that causes the most pain (often timesheets or the accounting journal), prove it, then layer on the rest. The timeline depends on how many systems are involved and how clean the existing data is, both of which we assess at discovery so the quote is realistic.

Every build is fixed-scope, quoted after a short discovery so you know the number before we start rather than watching an hourly meter. Where you want a broader piece of strategic work first, our scoping and strategy engagements are tiered: BASIC from $1,000, STANDARD from $3,000 and STRATEGIC from $10,000. We do not quote a real integration off a cold email; a quick discovery call gives us enough to price it honestly.

Do we need in-house IT to run this?

No. That is the point of us owning the whole build. We scope, build, test, run in parallel and support the integration, and document every rule in plain English so a non-technical payroll or office person can understand what it does. You do not need a developer on staff, and later changes are usually a config update we handle for you.

What if we also use Xero or MYOB?

That is one of the most common setups, and it is exactly what we connect. We post the payroll journal from KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) into Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks automatically with the correct accounts and cost centres, and keep employee and pay data consistent across the two, so wages reconcile cleanly and finance stops keeping a separate spreadsheet.

For Australian businesses running KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll)

KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) Integration and Automation (Stop Re-Keying the Same Data)

KeyPay, now Employment Hero Payroll, runs the pay for a huge share of Australian SMEs, and it does that job well. The problem is everything around it: the same starter details typed into KeyPay, then the accounting system, then the roster; timesheets exported and re-imported by hand; a spreadsheet finance keeps on the side because the two systems do not talk. The payroll engine is fine. The wiring around it is where the hours and the errors come from.

We build the two-way connection between KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) and the tools you already run (accounting like Xero or MYOB, rostering and timesheets, your CRM, spreadsheets and ecommerce), then automate the admin around each pay run so records stay in sync, double entry disappears, and nothing slips through between systems.

Book a Free KeyPay Integration Call (03) 9999 7398

Realistic ROI

5 to 10 hours per week

Returned to payroll and admin

Less re-keying and manual timesheet handling each pay run

Fewer payroll errors

Records match across systems

One entry flows everywhere instead of being retyped

One source of truth

KeyPay synced with accounting and rostering

No more conflicting employee or pay data

2 to 6 weeks

From kickoff to live

Phased: the highest-pain sync first, then the rest

Why Automate Around KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) With Yes AI

Four reasons a connected, automated KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) saves real hours where a stock setup leaves your team retyping the same details every pay run.

We start with deep discovery, not a template

Before we build anything we sit with the people who actually run your pay: what gets typed twice, which report gets exported and reformatted, where the errors creep in, which fields matter. Payroll is unforgiving and every business runs it slightly differently, so we map your real process first and design the integration around it rather than forcing you onto a generic connector.

Tuned to your process and your pay cycle

A weekly award-covered team, a fortnightly salaried office and a monthly director payroll all behave differently. We tune the automation to your pay frequencies, your pay categories, your cost centres and the way your accounts are structured, so timesheets, journals and employee changes flow the way your business actually works.

Secure, and Australian from end to end

Payroll data is about as sensitive as it gets: tax file numbers, bank accounts, super and salaries. Data moves between systems you control over secure connections, on dedicated service accounts with least-privilege access, and we align the whole engagement with the Australian Privacy Principles. Your consultants are Australian-based and understand STP, super and Fair Work obligations.

We own the whole build, start to finish

You are not handed a half-configured connector and left to it. We scope it, build it, test it against a sandbox, run it in parallel with your current process, cut over, and support it afterwards. One team is accountable for the integration working correctly every pay run, and changes later are usually a quick config update rather than a new project.

How the KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) Integration Works

Six things we wire up so KeyPay stays in step with the rest of your business and the admin around each pay run runs itself.

Two-way sync

Two-way sync of the right records

Employees, timesheets, pay categories, leave and pay run results sync both ways between KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) and your other systems. A change in one place updates the others instead of being retyped.

Auto notifications

Automated payslip and notification flows

Payslips, onboarding documents, pay run summaries and approval requests send themselves to the right person at the right moment, so managers, staff and finance are notified without anyone chasing an email.

Enter once

Enter a new starter once

A new employee is entered a single time and flows to KeyPay, the accounting system, the roster and anywhere else they are needed, with the correct pay category, cost centre and start date. No more three separate onboarding forms.

Dashboards live

Payroll dashboards that stay current

Wages cost by team, hours worked, overtime, leave liability and payroll against budget refresh automatically from KeyPay data, so the numbers are ready for a management meeting without an export-and-reformat job.

Exceptions flagged

Exception alerts before they cost you

A missing timesheet, a mismatch between the roster and the pay run, an unusually large pay, a super batch not lodged: the automation watches for these and flags them for a person before the pay run goes out, not after.

Runs on schedule

Scheduled jobs around every pay run

Timesheets import before the pay run, the payroll journal exports to accounting after it, and recurring housekeeping runs on a schedule tied to your pay calendar, so the routine work happens on time without anyone remembering to press go.

What the KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) Integration Handles

Task	Traditional	With Yes AI	Notes
New employee starts	Details typed into KeyPay, accounting and the roster separately	Entered once, flows to every system	Correct pay category, cost centre and start date, no rekeying.
Timesheets for the pay run	Exported from rostering and re-imported by hand	Imported into KeyPay automatically before each run	Approved hours flow straight through from Deputy, Tanda or similar.
Payroll journal into accounting	Manually keyed or a CSV massaged each pay run	Journal posts to Xero or MYOB automatically	Correct accounts and cost centres, wages reconcile cleanly.
Employee updates their bank or address	Changed in one system, stale in the others	Update syncs across connected systems	One record, no conflicting versions of the same person.
Leave and hours reporting for managers	Someone exports and rebuilds a spreadsheet	Dashboard already current from KeyPay data	Wages cost, overtime and leave liability refresh on their own.
Something does not match before a pay run	Found after pay has gone out, if at all	Flagged for a human before the run	Missing timesheets and roster-versus-pay mismatches surface early.

The Honest Realities of Payroll Integration, and How We Handle Them

API rate limits and pay-run timing

Payroll platforms cap how often an integration can call them, and everything clusters around pay day. We design the sync to pace its calls, queue and retry safely, and schedule the heavy jobs around your pay calendar so the integration never trips a limit or holds up a pay run.

Field mapping and data hygiene

An integration is only as good as the mapping under it. Mismatched pay categories, blank cost centres or two spellings of the same employee will spread errors faster once systems are connected. We map every field explicitly, clean the data first, and confirm the rules with you before anything goes live.

One source of truth to avoid sync loops

If two systems both think they own the employee record, they will fight and can loop updates back and forth. We agree up front which system owns which field (KeyPay owns pay, accounting owns the ledger, rostering owns hours) so every sync reinforces one truth rather than two systems overwriting each other.

Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles

Payroll carries tax file numbers, bank details, super and salaries, which are sensitive personal information under the Privacy Act 1988. We document exactly which fields move where, use secure connections and least-privilege service accounts, and align retention and access with the Australian Privacy Principles so the data stays protected in transit and at rest.

Sandbox testing and a parallel run before cutover

Nobody should discover an integration bug on a live pay run. We build and test against a sandbox or a safe copy first, then run the new automation in parallel with your current process for a cycle or two so you can compare results and trust them before we switch the manual work off.

Change management and staff training

A perfect integration still fails if the payroll officer does not trust it or does not know how it behaves. We document every automated rule in plain English, train the people who run pay on what it does and how to handle the exceptions, and leave your team in control rather than dependent on a black box.

How Yes AI Delivers It

Discovery, mapping and a fixed-price plan

We map your pay process, the systems in play and every field that needs to move, then hand you a prioritised plan (highest-pain sync first) and a fixed-price spec before any build begins. No surprises and no open-ended hourly meter.

Build, connect and automate

We build the two-way integrations between KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) and your accounting, rostering, CRM and spreadsheets, and add the automation around each pay run: notifications, scheduled jobs, exception alerts and dashboards. Built and tested against a sandbox first.

Parallel run and tune

We run the new automation alongside your current process for a pay cycle or two, compare the results line by line, and tune the mappings and rules against real pay data before switching the manual work off. You cut over only when it is proven.

Support and evolution

After go-live we monitor the integration and handle change: a new pay category, a new integration, an award update, a fresh report. Most adjustments are a config change, and your team keeps full visibility of every rule we built.

Our 5-Step KeyPay Integration Rollout

Most KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) integrations go live in 2 to 6 weeks, phased so nothing risky ever lands on a live pay run.

Discovery and mapping (week 1)

We sit with your payroll and finance people, map the real process, list every system and field that needs to sync, and pin down which system owns what. You get a prioritised plan and a fixed-price spec.

Design the integration (week 1 to 2)

We design the two-way sync, the automated flows and the schedule around your pay calendar, and agree the field mappings, ownership rules and exception handling with you before a line is built.

Build in a sandbox (week 2 to 4)

We build and connect everything against a sandbox or a safe copy of your data, so KeyPay and your other systems are never touched by unfinished work. Every rule is documented as we go.

Test and parallel run (week 3 to 5)

We test against real scenarios, then run the automation in parallel with your current process for a cycle or two. You compare results and confirm the numbers match before anything is switched off.

Go live and monitor

We cut over, monitor the first live pay runs closely, and stay on for support and changes. New pay categories, integrations or reports later are usually a quick config update.

FAQ

Stop Re-Keying Around KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll)

Book a free 30-minute call. We will look at where your team retypes payroll data today, which systems should be talking, and what the highest-value sync to build first is, then give you a prioritised plan and a fixed-price quote.