MYOB Maintenance

You were very lucky - we couldn't do 3 x payroll, staff couldn't enter their time billing to be paid this morning and BAS returns couldn't progress. I get maintenance is required but if we'd received an email or notification Wednesday - we could have at least made other plans for payroll. Interestingly we always seem to be in "the small minority affected" as MYOB would say.

OMG I nearly cried when I saw this post - I have 5 BAS's booked in this weekend.  Luckly I dont seem to be experiencing any issues so far ..... 

Hi Mike,

Your reply was only two months ago. Yet, here we are again unable to access MYOB for the whole weekend with no advance warning from MYOB via email or when logging into MYOB. The really grating issue that we do have a notice from MYOB about not being able to work offline. How can we have a notice of MYOB when logging in about taking something away, yet no notice for a whole weekend of scheduled maintenance. We had a 10% price hike a few months back. Sorry, not good enough.

Regards, Bronwyn

Hi NikkiParsons​ , I don't believe there is any more I can say on this matter sorry.

The only point I will make right now is that saying we had a 'system outage for 11 hours' is misleading.

We had 10.5 hours of system maintenance, which was reflected on our status page, and was completed outside of business hours. 
Unfortunately this system maintenance went for an additional period of around 30 minutes, instead finishing at ~7am AU.

This is a compliance risk issue, not a minor inconvenience.

We experienced a complete system outage for approximately 11 hours, with no clear advance notification.

To be precise:

• There was no direct or proactive communication enabling planning around the outage
• The only indication of “maintenance” was identified after the system stopped working, via the Status Hub
• The outage extended beyond the communicated 6:30am timeframe
• The Status Hub then indicated systems were operational when access was still not possible

This resulted in a full lockout of client data during a critical processing window. The message said temporary.

For practices managing payroll, superannuation and BAS obligations, this creates real compliance exposure, including:

• inability to process payroll within required timeframes
• risk of failing PayDay Super expectations
• inability to meet client and statutory deadlines

The current position that:

• prior “blanket communications” are sufficient, and
• no direct process changes will be implemented

is not appropriate for software relied upon in a regulated environment.

In-product messaging is not a valid control when users cannot access the system.
Status Hub is not a valid control if it does not reflect actual system availability in real time.

Even the ATO provides clear, proactive notification of planned maintenance, recognising the compliance obligations placed on agents and businesses.

Expecting users to discover outages only after systems fail — and then rely on inaccurate status reporting — is not an acceptable standard.

An 11-hour inability to access client data, combined with incorrect system status and no advance notice, represents a failure of both system reliability and compliance-supporting communication.

If MYOB is to be relied upon for payroll and statutory obligations, these controls are not optional.

What specific changes will be implemented to ensure:

• clear, advance notification of outages, and
• accurate, real-time system status where maintenance exceeds planned windows?

Hi NikkiParsons​ , 

This was largely answered in my previous response.
But I will note some again for clarity

From your message: The key concerns remain:

• The maintenance window was exceeded by a material margin
  • Agree, this has occurred twice for you now where we have noted a 6:30am end time for maintenance and we have exceeded this. The feedback is noted
• The Status Hub did not reflect the actual system availability
  • Status hub was updated based on the maintenance window of 8pm 19/03 - 6:30am 20/03. As the system was still unavailable after 6:30, when you checked, it appeared as though there was no notification. You then found and have provided the screenshot for the scheduled maintenance but this was based on the 6:30am end time and you checked at 6:43am. 
• No direct or targeted notification was issued in advance
  • In product messaging and status hub updates were provided. Along with the messaging in November and February. It was not possible in this instance for us to provide direct messaging. You feedback is noted
• The communication referenced prior “blanket statements” (November / February), which are not a substitute for specific, timely outage notifications
  • I understand this is frustrating, I agree with your position and we would not normally operate this way. As above, feedback is noted
• The impact was inconsistent with the messaging provided (described as disruption, experienced as full lockout)
  • The scheduled maintenance message does state this would be a 'lockdown' 
    

There will be no direct process changes as a result of this.
I will work with the team performing this maintenance to feedback that maintenance occurring outside of the communicated window has occurred twice now and that we need to work to ensure this does not continue.

We make these changes in a way that aims to provide the least disruption to our customers, although everyone is different, it would be fair to say that most people work during business hours which is why we target maintenance overnight (8pm to 6:30am) - this also caters to our NZ customers (10pm - 8:30am for them) 

Mike_MYOB​ 

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the acknowledgement, however the explanation does not address the severity of the impact experienced.

To be clear, this was not a minor overrun or partial disruption.

We were unable to access a single file for approximately 11 hours. This represents a complete service outage, not a limited or “not all customers” scenario.

The key concerns remain:

• The maintenance window was exceeded by a material margin
• The Status Hub did not reflect the actual system availability
• No direct or targeted notification was issued in advance
• The communication referenced prior “blanket statements” (November / February), which are not a substitute for specific, timely outage notifications
• The impact was inconsistent with the messaging provided (described as disruption, experienced as full lockout)

The statement that direct email communication was “not possible” is particularly concerning. Given MYOB regularly distributes other communications, this suggests a process or prioritisation gap, rather than a technical limitation.

More importantly, the current approach assumes that:

• Users will not be impacted, or
• That generic prior communications are sufficient

Neither is appropriate for a system relied upon for payroll and compliance functions.

This is now a repeated pattern:

1. Maintenance overruns
2. Lack of clear, proactive notification
3. Status reporting not aligned with actual system availability

Passing feedback to the team is noted, however this does not provide any assurance of change.

Accordingly, I request confirmation of the following:

1. What specific process changes will be implemented to ensure advance, targeted notification of maintenance that may impact access
2. How MYOB will ensure the Status Hub accurately reflects real-time system availability, particularly in overrun scenarios
3. What service standards or internal controls exist to manage maintenance windows and prevent extended outages of this nature

An 11-hour inability to access client data is not operationally sustainable for a bookkeeping practice managing payroll and compliance obligations.

I would appreciate a response that clearly outlines what will change in practice, rather than general commentary on process as well as how to lodge a formal complaint. Thank you

Hi NikkiParsons​ , I can see this maintenance went past the scheduled time of 6:30 based on your screenshots which is certainly disappointing and would affect the visibility in status hub for this maintenance as well.

The maintenance we are completing will not always affect all customers and is being completed in a reasonably agile way.

Because of this, we communicated a more blanket statement about upcoming maintenance and disruptions in November and again on the 1st Feb.

Based on your previous feedback, I am pleased to see that status hub is being updated and I acknowledge that a direct email inn advance would be the best outcome, 9 times out of 10, this is something we would do, but for this scenario it hasnt been possible.

I will pass to the team that there are now at least 2 noted occurrences of our maintenance running past the scheduled time as well and hope that this can be tightened.

So disappointed................

Good morning Mike_MYOB​ 

We experienced a full service outage last night while performing scheduled work, with no prior awareness that MYOB would be unavailable.

After significant time spent investigating, we eventually located a maintenance notice indicating a “temporary lockdown.” Not totally inaccessible and unusable. 

 However:

• This was not proactively communicated via email or any clear alert
• The wording did not clearly convey a full system outage
• There was no practical guidance on expected impact aside from temporary outages. 
• The suggested MYOB Community link was not accessible (login unavailable and no visible updates)

As a result, two staff members were allocated to work and remained on standby, repeatedly checking system access late into the evening and early morning (including after 2am), without any clarity on when services would resume.

This is not a minor inconvenience — it directly impacts payroll processing and compliance obligations, particularly with PayDay Super requirements now in place.

And after the 2026.2 upgrade yesterday morning which removed settings permissions across ever file, and poor stability, it added insult to injury.

For comparison, the ATO publishes clear, forward maintenance schedules. This allows practitioners to plan and avoid exactly this scenario.

At a minimum, we would expect:

• Advance email notification with a clear subject line (e.g. “Scheduled Maintenance – Service Unavailable”)
• Plain language confirming full system outage where applicable
• Accurate and accessible status updates during the outage
• Functional support channels during downtime

Directing users to a community page that is inaccessible during an outage is not an acceptable fallback.

Please advise:

1. Why no clear, proactive notification was issued
2. Why the outage was not clearly communicated as a full service disruption
3. What changes will be implemented to ensure this does not occur again
4. Why the system wasn't even up and running after 6.30am despite your status page saying everything was normal - and yes, I have time stamped screen shots.

We rely on MYOB to meet time-sensitive payroll and compliance obligations. The current communication approach does not support that.

I look forward to your response.