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 KeyPay Integration Call (03) 9003 0111

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

KeyPay handles award interpretation, STP Phase 2 and super well, but it still lives inside a wider stack of accounting, rostering and HR tools. Here are four reasons wiring it into that stack, and automating the admin on either side of a pay run, hands your payroll officer real hours back that a stock setup spends on retyping.

We start with deep discovery, not a template

Before we touch the KeyPay API we sit with whoever runs your pay runs and trace the whole cycle: which timesheet source feeds it, how your pay categories and cost centres map to the chart of accounts, whether super lodges automatically or by hand, and where a number gets keyed twice. Award interpretation and STP Phase 2 are configured differently in every business, so we document your actual setup first and build the integration around it rather than forcing you onto a generic connector.

Tuned to your process and your pay cycle

A weekly award-covered venue, a fortnightly salaried office and a monthly pay run for directors all behave differently inside KeyPay. We tune the automation to your pay schedules, your pay categories and allowances, your locations and cost centres, and the way KeyPay interprets your modern award, so timesheets, journals, leave and employee changes move the way your business genuinely runs and not a textbook version of it.

Secure, and Australian from end to end

KeyPay holds about the most sensitive data you have: tax file numbers, tax declarations, bank accounts, super fund details and salaries. Data moves only between systems you control, over secure connections, on dedicated API credentials scoped to the exact KeyPay business and the least access the job needs, all aligned with the Australian Privacy Principles. Your consultants are based in Australia and understand STP Phase 2, SuperStream and Fair Work, not just the endpoints.

We own the whole build, start to finish

You are not handed a set of KeyPay API keys and left to wire it up. We scope it, build it against a test business or a copy of your data, run it in parallel with your current process across a real pay cycle, cut over, and support it after. One team is accountable for the journal posting correctly and the timesheets landing every single pay run, and a later change like a new pay category, another location or a fresh report is usually a quick config update rather than a new project.

How the KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) Integration Works

Six pieces we wire up so KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll) stays in lock step with your accounting, rostering and HR tools, and the busywork on either side of every pay run takes care of itself.

Two-way sync

Two-way sync of the right records

Employees, timesheets, pay categories, leave requests and finalised pay run totals move both ways between KeyPay and your accounting, rostering and HR systems. Update a bank account in KeyPay or approve hours in Deputy, and the connected systems follow instead of waiting for someone to retype the same change into each one.

Auto notifications

Automated payslip and notification flows

Payslips, pay run summaries, onboarding paperwork and approval requests send themselves to the right manager, employee or bookkeeper at the right moment. Finance gets the journal confirmation, a manager gets the timesheet approval nudge, and a new starter gets their forms, all without anyone chasing an email once the pay run is finalised.

Enter once

Enter a new starter once

A new employee is entered a single time and flows into KeyPay with the correct pay category, pay schedule, location and cost centre, then on into the accounting system and the roster in Deputy or Tanda and your HR records. No more keying the same tax and super details into three separate onboarding forms and hoping the three copies match.

Dashboards live

Payroll dashboards that stay current

Wages cost by location, hours and overtime, leave liability and payroll against budget refresh straight from KeyPay pay run and timesheet data, so the numbers are sitting ready for a management meeting instead of someone exporting a KeyPay report and rebuilding it in a spreadsheet every fortnight.

Exceptions flagged

Exception alerts before they cost you

A missing or unapproved timesheet, a roster in Deputy that does not match the hours in the pay run, an unusually large net pay, a super batch that has not lodged, or an employee with no super fund on file: the automation watches for all of these and flags them to a person before the pay run is finalised, not after the money has already left the account.

Runs on schedule

Scheduled jobs around every pay run

Approved timesheets pull into KeyPay before the run, the payroll journal posts to Xero or MYOB the moment it is finalised, and recurring housekeeping runs on a schedule pinned to your pay calendar, so the routine work happens on the right day of the cycle without your payroll officer having to remember to trigger any of it.

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

The KeyPay API caps how often an integration can call it, and the load naturally spikes on pay day when everyone is finalising runs and pushing journals at once. We pace the calls, queue work and retry on a back-off, and schedule the heavy jobs like timesheet imports and journal exports around your pay calendar, so the sync never trips a limit or holds up a finalised pay run.

Field mapping and data hygiene

A KeyPay integration is only as good as the mapping beneath it. A pay category pointed at the wrong account, a blank location or cost centre, or one employee recorded two ways will spread through the journal and every connected system the moment they are joined up. We map every pay category, location and employee field explicitly, clean the data before go-live, and sign the rules off with you first.

One source of truth to avoid sync loops

If KeyPay and your accounting or HR system both believe they own the employee record, they will argue and can loop the same update back and forth. We agree up front which system owns which field, so KeyPay owns pay, super and leave balances, the accounting ledger owns the accounts, and rostering owns approved hours, and every sync then reinforces one version of the truth instead of two systems overwriting each other.

Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles

A KeyPay record carries tax file numbers, tax declarations, bank details, super fund details and salaries, all sensitive personal information under the Privacy Act 1988. We document exactly which of those fields move where, keep them on secure connections and least-privilege API credentials scoped to the one business, and align retention and access with the Australian Privacy Principles so the data stays protected both in transit and at rest.

Sandbox testing and a parallel run before cutover

Nobody should meet an integration bug on a live pay run with real wages attached. We build and test against a KeyPay test business or a safe copy of your data first, then run the new automation in parallel with your current process for a cycle or two, so you can compare the journal, the timesheets and the pay totals line by line and trust them before the manual work is switched off.

Change management and staff training

A flawless integration still fails if your payroll officer does not trust it or cannot tell what it did. We write every automated rule down in plain English, walk the people who run pay through what fires when and how to clear an exception, and leave them in control of KeyPay rather than dependent on a black box they cannot see into.

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 are live in 2 to 6 weeks, staged so the timesheet import, the journal export and every other flow is proven against a test business long before it ever touches a real pay run.

Discovery and mapping (week 1)

We sit with your payroll and finance people, trace a full pay cycle from timesheet to journal, and list every system, pay category, location and field that needs to sync between KeyPay and your accounting, rostering and HR tools. We pin down which system owns what, then hand you a prioritised plan and a fixed-price spec.

Design the integration (week 1 to 2)

We design the two-way sync, the automated notifications and the schedule around your pay calendar, and lock in the pay category to account mapping, the cost centre and location rules, the employee-matching keys and the exception handling with you before a single call is built against KeyPay.

Build in a sandbox (week 2 to 4)

We build and connect everything against a KeyPay test business or a safe copy of your data, so your live payroll and your accounting ledger are never touched by unfinished work. Every mapping and rule is documented as we go, from timesheet import through to the finalised journal.

Test and parallel run (week 3 to 5)

We test real scenarios, a new starter, a leave request, a finalised pay run and a posted journal, then run the automation in parallel with your current process for a cycle or two. You compare the KeyPay totals and the accounting journal against your manual results and confirm they match before anything is switched off.

Go live and monitor

We cut over, watch the first live pay runs and journal postings closely, and stay on for support and change. A new pay category, another location, a fresh integration or an extra report later is usually a quick config update rather than a new build.

FAQ

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.

Is our payroll data safe, and does this meet the Privacy Act?

Payroll data is sensitive personal information under the Privacy Act 1988, so we treat it that way. Data moves only between systems you control, over secure connections, on dedicated service accounts with least-privilege access. We document exactly which fields move where and align retention and access with the Australian Privacy Principles. The engagement is Australian-based throughout.

What does it cost?

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.

Stop Re-Keying Around KeyPay (Employment Hero Payroll)

Book a 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.