MYOB and SFTP / Flat Files integration

What moves between them

The main flow runs from MYOB to SFTP / Flat Files. MYOB invoices, bills, purchase orders, and GL journal entries are polled on a schedule and written as formatted flat files to the partner's SFTP inbound folder. A secondary flow brings vendor payments and remittances from the SFTP inbound folder back into MYOB Accounts Payable, mapped to the correct supplier contacts and GL accounts. Acknowledgment files are written to the acks/ folder to signal processing completion. The cadence follows your business cycle, typically daily or per-transaction-batch.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector manages three credential sets: the MYOB OAuth2 token is refreshed before expiry since it lasts only 20 minutes, the company file username and password are base64-encoded in every request header, and the SFTP session uses the trading partner's public key or password over encrypted SSH. Before writing to SFTP, ml-connector queries MYOB using OData filters on LastModified to detect changes since the last sync, respecting the 8-request/second rate limit with automatic backoff on HTTP 429. MYOB PATCH operations read the current RowVersion first, so stale edits are retried with a fresh version. CSV and fixed-width output is mapped per trading partner so invoice lines align to the columns your partner expects. Inbound remittances and payments are parsed from the partner's format, matched to MYOB suppliers by name or code, and posted as supplier payments. An audit trail records every file arrival, parse, and GL entry.

A real-world example

A mid-sized Australian wholesale distributor uses MYOB to manage AP, AR, and the general ledger. Two major customers send payments via EDI remittance advice files deposited on an SFTP server, and the distributor's suppliers expect to receive invoices and payment schedules as CSV or X12 EDI files. Before the integration, a clerk manually exported invoices from MYOB, reformatted them in a spreadsheet, uploaded them to SFTP, then downloaded remittance files and re-entered payments in MYOB by hand. With MYOB and SFTP / Flat Files connected, invoices flow automatically each morning, supplier payments arrive and post to AP with no re-keying, and the distributor's trading partners receive data in their expected format without manual export.

What you can do

• •Export MYOB invoices, purchase orders, and bills as formatted CSV or X12 EDI files to SFTP inbound folders on a schedule.
• •Receive vendor payments and remittances from SFTP, parse them, and post them into MYOB accounts payable mapped to supplier contacts.
• •Authenticate MYOB with OAuth2 plus company file credentials, refreshing the OAuth token before its 20-minute expiry.
• •Respect MYOB's 8-request/second rate limit and RowVersion conflicts, with automatic retries and a full audit trail on every record.
• •Generate X12 997 or EDIFACT CONTRL acknowledgment files for processed inbound transactions.

Questions

How does ml-connector handle MYOB's three-part authentication requirement?

Every API call to MYOB sends three headers: the OAuth2 Authorization Bearer token (refreshed before its 20-minute expiry), the x-myobapi-key API key, and an x-myobapi-cftoken containing the base64-encoded company file username and password. ml-connector manages all three and keeps credentials encrypted in storage. A 401 response triggers a token refresh before retry.

What file formats does the connector support for SFTP output?

The connector writes CSV, fixed-width, X12 EDI, and EDIFACT formats. The specific format, column layout, and delimiter are configured per trading partner based on their specification. Inbound files are parsed in the same format so payments and remittances align with MYOB account mappings.

How are MYOB GL accounts and suppliers matched to SFTP data during inbound processing?

MYOB suppliers and GL accounts are looked up by their code or name from the parsed remittance or payment file. The mapping is configured per trading partner during setup. If a match is not found, the record is flagged for review and the transaction is logged in the audit trail before being skipped.