Deputy
Staff rostering and time tracking platform used by Pride of Our Footscray for shift scheduling and clock in/out recording. Deputy is the system of record for employee hours and serves as the primary data source for payroll processing.
Role in Pride’s Operations
Deputy is used by all bar and venue staff to:
- Clock in and out for shifts (via iPads on cash registers)
- Track hours worked across pay periods
- View published rosters and schedule availability
- Record leave requests and approvals
The system holds complete historical records of staff attendance and hours since implementation.
Current Integration with Payroll
Status: Manual workaround; native Xero integration available but not yet configured.
Currently Tom manually exports timesheets from Deputy at the end of each pay cycle and enters hours into Xero payroll. This creates double-handling, delays, and manual entry risk. Each pay cycle takes 2–3 hours of manual effort.
Deputy has a built-in Xero integration (available through Deputy’s integrations page) that can automatically sync approved timesheets to Xero payroll records. Setup requires mapping Deputy employees to Xero employee records and enabling automatic sync on timesheet approval—approximately 30 minutes of configuration.
Data Availability
- Export capability: CSV export of timesheets and staff records available
- Employee records: Full name, contact details, start dates
- Historical data: Complete clock in/out records since implementation
- Normalisation required: Deputy export format needs mapping to Xero payroll structure
Operational Challenges
Single point of failure: Tom’s availability directly impacts payroll processing. If Tom is unavailable, payroll stalls until configuration or documentation exists.
Process documentation: Current workflow exists primarily in Tom’s head. No formal documentation exists.
Automation opportunity: The Deputy–Xero native integration represents a quick win to eliminate manual processing and reduce payroll cycle time.
Xero Integration: Comprehensive Assessment (April 2026)
Per Deputy Xero Integration Research and Melbourne Venue Tech Stack Research.
Strategic Context
Xero invested USD $25M in Deputy (April 2024), retired competing Planday in Australia (September 2024), and made Deputy the exclusive embedded rostering solution for Australian Xero customers (March 2026). The integration is built and maintained by Deputy, not a third party. Xero App Store rating: 3.96/5 from 146 reviews.
Native Integration Workflow
The export is semi-automated — a manager must manually trigger it. Timesheets do not flow to Xero automatically on approval.
- In Xero: create a draft pay run with exact matching dates
- In Deputy: approve all timesheets for the period
- In Deputy: Export Timesheets → select location, date range, employees
- Choose format — Timesheets (allows Xero-side adjustments) or Payslips (direct to pay run)
- Click Export — Deputy pushes to Xero via API (no CSV step)
- In Xero: review imported timesheets, add manual allowances
- In Xero: approve timesheets → process pay run
Data Fields That Transfer
| Direction | Fields | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy → Xero (auto sync) | Name, mobile, gender, DOB, address, hire date | Every 15 min |
| Xero → Deputy (add-on) | Name, gender, mobile, DOB, hire date | One-time per employee (daily check) |
| Deputy Onboarding → Xero | All personal + bank + super + TFN + tax declaration | Manual trigger |
| Timesheet export | Employee, date, start/end, breaks, hours, pay rate category, location, leave type | Manual trigger |
| Leave balances (Xero → Deputy) | Annual, personal, compassionate, community service, LSL, TOIL | Daily at midnight |
Critical: Pay rate dollar amounts do NOT transfer — Xero applies its own earnings rates to exported hours.
What Does NOT Sync
Superannuation, leave loading, casual loading, most allowances (meal, first aid, laundry, travel), unpaid leave timesheets, salaried employee timesheets, negative leave balances.
Known Export Errors (14 Documented Types)
Most critical for Pride: employee name/email mismatches (high casual turnover), API rate limit (5,000 calls/day with no same-day fix), pay element not found (earnings rate misconfigured), and duplicate timesheet conflicts.
Structural Limitations
- Salaried employees cannot be exported — hourly/award-rate only
- Cannot selectively sync employees — all-or-nothing
- Gender field required by Xero — sync fails if missing
- Initial setup for 12+ employees can take hours due to API throttling
HIGA Award Interpretation (MA000009)
Deputy automates: Base hourly, M–F evening penalty (+$2.81/hr), Saturday (1.25x FT/PT, 1.20x casual), Sunday (1.50x/1.40x), public holiday (2.25x/2.00x), daily OT tiers, delayed meal break penalties, split shift allowance.
Deputy does NOT automate: Leave loading (17.5%), casual loading (25%), loaded rates, annualised wage outer limits, overnight stay penalties, most allowances (meal, first aid, laundry, travel, supervisor), part-time OT threshold (Enterprise plan only), pro-rated penalty for partial hours.
Every pay run at Pride will require manual Xero adjustments for these gaps regardless of integration setup.
Top 5 Pain Points
- Employee mapping errors — exact name + email match required; most common complaint
- Award interpretation gaps — manual payroll adjustments every pay run
- Customer support quality — offshore first-level, timezone mismatches, slow escalation
- Connection drop-outs — token expiry requires manual reconnection
- API rate limit — 5,000 calls/day can block large exports with no same-day fix
Alternative Platforms (If Native Integration Fails)
| Platform | Xero Rating | Est. Cost (20 staff/mo) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanda + Xero | 4.47/5 (51 reviews) | ~$290–$350 | Real-time award interpretation; live labour cost visibility |
| KeyPay (EH Payroll) | 4.32/5 (34 reviews) | ~$120 | Eliminates integration layer; strongest award engine |
| Microkeeper | 4.4/5 (Trustpilot) | ~$120 | Budget: $4–6/employee/month; full HIGA, STP compliant |
| RosterElf + Xero | 4.88/5 (90 reviews) | ~$140 + Xero | Highest Xero rating; Fair Work awards built in |
Recommendation for Pride
Step 1 (now): Audit employee names/emails for exact match. Enable Timesheet Preflight (launched January 2025). Configure native integration. Build per-pay-run manual checklist for leave loading, casual loading, and allowances.
Step 2 (if manual burden unsustainable): Evaluate Tanda → KeyPay → Microkeeper in that order.
Step 3 (long-term): Deputy Payroll add-on ($5/user/month, launched June 2025) eliminates the Xero integration entirely. Needs maturity — revisit Q3 2026.
Deputy AI Scheduling (Free — Activate Now)
Demand forecasting from POS data and auto-scheduling within budget. Already included in Deputy subscription — connect the Square POS feed to enable.
Deputy API Capabilities
Full REST API with webhooks (timesheets, employees, leave, schedules) at no extra cost. No dedicated “timesheet approved” event — use timesheet update where TimeApproved changes to true. For custom builds: batch export with webhook buffering on AWS Lambda (~$0–5/month). Custom development via Australian agencies: AUD $6k–$17k (Hello People Perth, Dcode Group Melbourne).
See Tech Stack Optimisation for full stack recommendations.
Related Pages
- Xero — accounting software receiving Deputy payroll data
- Staffing Model — team composition and employment records
- Data Integration Architecture — integration design and priorities
- Labour Cost Structure — HIGA penalty rate exposure and award interpretation gaps
- Tech Stack Optimisation — stack assessment
- Deputy Xero Integration Research — source: comprehensive integration research (April 2026)
- Melbourne Venue Tech Stack Research — source: tech stack evaluation