Go-live
Construction payroll go-live in Employment Hero.
15 minutes, your EBA, no sales script.
Order of work
Four groups, run in sequence
First check Crew Time employee mapping, jobs, cost codes and approvals. Then verify the Employment Hero award or EBA configuration and opening data. Your payroll team confirms reporting access, payment setup and the cutover date.
Every item below is checked and evidenced before the first pay run is approved, not after the first exception email.
Step 1
ATO and reporting setup
Your authorised payroll team or registered agent confirms Employment Hero reporting settings against current ATO guidance. These are payroll platform tasks, not Crew Time functions.
- Supplier settings completed: ABN, branch, business name, contact and address, exactly as registered
- Electronic lodgement enabled, with the lodging party confirmed as the employer or the registered agent
- Platform software ID added under Hosted SBR Software in ATO Access Manager, through Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM)
- Authorised person confirmed in RAM, so lodgement does not stall on an expired authorisation
- Reporting treatment for opening figures confirmed by your payroll team or agent, including whether an STP update event is required
- Warnings on the update event read and understood: an unfinalised prior financial year in the old system is the usual cause, and it is resolved in the old system, not ignored
Step 2
Super and clearing house
Super has the longest lead time of anything on this list, because bank verification is not instant. It starts before configuration finishes.
- Payment service selected and its current Employment Hero setup requirements confirmed
- Direct debit set up and bank account verified via the micro-deposit, which takes a few business days to land and be confirmed
- Fund details validated per employee, including USIs and member numbers
- SMSF electronic service address checked for expiry, because a lapsed ESA fails the whole super batch, not just that member
- Payday super: the super batch goes out the same day as the pay run, not in a monthly cycle
- First batch watched end to end and confirmed as received, not just submitted
Step 3
Live environment discipline
Confirm the test environment available for your Employment Hero account. If tests must use a live environment, agree controls before creating test runs.
- Test pay runs deleted, not left unfinalised in the list
- Test payslips never published, and email notifications off until the first real run is approved
- ABA file settings verified: bank code, direct entry user ID, self-balancing line and lodgement reference, tested against a small batch first
- Payslip layout checked on a real payslip, including allowance descriptions and the year-to-date notes section
- Access reviewed: who can approve a pay run, who can only prepare one
Step 4
Cutover timing
The old system's last pay run and the new system's first pay period have to meet exactly, with no gap and no overlap.
- Final pay run in the outgoing system dated and reconciled, and its period end is the cutover date
- First new-system pay period starts the day after the cutover date, with opening leave balances carrying that same date
- Terminations in flight completed in whichever system owns the period they belong to
- Approved Crew Time sample timesheets tested in Employment Hero, with every variance explained against the applicable clause
- Long service leave snapshot exported and stored before the old system is decommissioned
Before you start
What to have captured already
The checklist assumes the data work is done. If it is not, start with fresh start versus carryover , then leave balance reconciliation , then the long service leave snapshot . EBA clauses are built in parallel, including RDO accrual and buyback .
Go-live questions
What is the software ID and where does it go?
It is the identifier that links the payroll platform to your ABN for Single Touch Payroll lodgement. You add it in ATO Access Manager under Hosted SBR Software, signed in through Relationship Authorisation Manager. Until it is added, lodgement fails with an authorisation error rather than a data error.
Why run an STP update event before the first pay run?
Your payroll team or registered agent decides whether an update event is needed for the chosen migration method. Confirm the identifiers, opening figures and current Employment Hero and ATO guidance before reporting.
What do the update event warnings mean?
Most commonly that the prior financial year has not been finalised in the outgoing system. The warning is telling you the ATO still considers that year open. Finalise it where it was reported, then re-check.
How long does super clearing house verification take?
Plan for several business days. The direct debit bank account is verified by a micro-deposit that has to appear and be confirmed, so it is started early, in parallel with configuration, not on go-live week.
Can we test in a sandbox first?
Check the options available for your Employment Hero account. Keep testing separate from live reporting and payments wherever possible, and agree controls with your payroll owner.
Who does all of this?
Your authorised payroll team completes reporting and payment setup in Employment Hero. Contact us to scope construction configuration review and the Crew Time handover.Custom quote, book a call
Reviewed August 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
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