Bi4Cloud accesses the MYOB API, until now when linked to an MYOB Cloud (ARLive) file we have always done a FULL Sync of the data which pulls ALL historical data from MYOB. This can take from a few minutes up to 2-3 hours, depending on the size of the MYOB file.
Experiencing slower data refresh?
Recent updates by MYOB to the AccountRight Live product to support multi-currency has increased the size of the data that their API sends to BI4Cloud. This has also increased the time it takes to receive the data. This, in turn, has increased the time to refresh data in the order of 2 - 3 times.
Introduced Incremental Data Sync
In response to this we have, in the past few weeks, developed an Incremental Refresh capability that relies upon the Posted Date of GL transactions such that we only extract new or changed transactions NEWER than the last synced Posted Date. See below for more detailed discussion about how we do this.
This improves sync times in the order of two times to twenty times faster. The more transactions the bigger the improvement because it only extracts the changes, not everything.
How Accurate is the Incremental Sync?
We have taken a number of steps to ensure the Incrementally Refreshed data is accurate and these steps include checks comparing expected vs stored Bill and Invoice transaction counts. We also compare expected and the stored sum of Invoice and Bill outstanding balances to the AR and AP control accounts in the GL.
If these checks fail then we force a full sync of the data to ensure everything is picked up.
How does this affect you ?
The Incremental data sync happens automatically each night and does not require your intervention.
However, if an Incremental refresh occurs while transactions are being input, changed or deleted then the cross checks we make can indicate a discrepancy and we will then force a full refresh.
So if you instigate a refresh during business hours while transactions are being added or changed this MAY result in a longer Full Refresh of data which means it will be longer, sometimes much longer, to get the up to date data.
Our advice to you here is to minimise manual refresh while there is any data entry activity occurring in MYOB ie. Limit ad-hoc refresh to times when no one or no process is updating or inserting transactions.
What if my data doesn't look correct?
In spite of the safeguards we have made, sometimes data we get from incremental syncs may drift and we may not detect this. If you believe this is the case you can force the next refresh to be a Full Sync and thereby refresh all of the data. The Force FULL Flag will be actioned on the next refresh whether you initiate the Refresh OR if it is the overnight scheduled refresh. If data integrity errors keep occurring, please advise us by visiting our Help Desk and click on Submit a Request.
If you perform an Import of Items, Customer, Supplier or Employees or major updates of your data file then we recommend you set to force a FULL sync
Force Full Sync
To force a Full Sync, go to the Bi4Cloud Admin page and against the company you wish to force a full sync select the setup button.
The screen below will be displayed if your company is AccountRight Live. Locate the Force full sync checkbox and click it and save the settings using the disc icon 
How we do the Incremental Sync and How we plan to further improve it
We understand that for many users the increase in refresh time will impact your workflow and that at times the reports need to reflect the current data in MYOB AccountRight Live.
With Incremental Refresh any transactions that impact the GL can be incremental synced. These include Invoices, Bills, Customer Payments and Supplier Payments.
Contact information contains a last date and time of update and so Customers, Suppliers and Employees are also extracted based upon the last update date and time..
Because Purchase Orders and Sales Orders don't post to GL they must be extracted in Full.
Equally Inventory Items need to be extracted in full as there is no Modified Date provided.
Some customer keep expansive Item data ( 10,000+ Items ) and each 1000 items
To alleviate the time taken on Purchase and Sales Orders we will be implementing limiting refresh Open Orders only. This will not effect report accuracy.
We will also change refresh of Contacts (Customers / Suppliers) based upon Last Modified Date
We will also investigate a refresh mode to only capture data in the current financial year and next year.
Because MYOB AccountRight can allow retrospective changes to transactions and because AccountRight does not provide last updated date time on the AccountRight API or notifications of changes (webhooks) there will be a time lag.