Cloud-native AU payroll (Access Group)

Definitiv (Evo) for AU/NZ payroll

Definitiv is a cloud-native payroll engine (Definitiv Evo) with a 100% configurable Award Engine for complex Australian awards, acquired by The Access Group in August 2021 and now part of Access's APAC portfolio.

Definitiv's Award Engine is fully configurable and a recognised strength for complex, multi-award Australian payroll structures – worth benchmarking against Affinity's award interpretation – alongside Evo Copilot, a natural-language AI capability, and costed payroll.

Definitiv was acquired by The Access Group, a UK-headquartered global business-software group, in August 2021, and now sits within Access's APAC portfolio (marketed as Definitiv Evo) – for some organisations global-group scale is an advantage, for others independent local ownership matters more.

Definitiv supports NZ payroll alongside Australia and Singapore; organisations with significant NZ operations should confirm the depth of its Holidays Act handling directly, and check whether it offers a fully managed, end-to-end processing service alongside its cloud-native SaaS payroll platform.

What to weigh with Definitiv

  • Owned by The Access Group since 2021 – roadmap sits within a larger group's priorities
  • NZ Holidays Act depth worth confirming directly given its multi-country (AU/NZ/SG) scope
  • SaaS-native – confirm whether a fully managed option is available
  • No confirmed equivalent to pre-payslip anomaly and variance detection

Affinity: 40+ years of AU/NZ payroll – 500,000+ employees processed, ISO 27001 certified, single AU/NZ database.

Which providers can you compare Definitiv against?

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More on Affinity →See every AU/NZ payroll comparison →Compare Definitiv on outsourced delivery →

What's involved in moving off Definitiv?

Moving off Definitiv mostly means carrying a heavily configured Award Engine across without losing a pay condition.

  • Award Engine configuration – the rules built into Definitiv's configurable Award Engine, documented so every pay condition is rebuilt and tested
  • Costed payroll and reporting – cost centre and costed payroll structures your finance team relies on
  • Access products and contracts – other Access Group products connected to Definitiv, and your contract and notice terms
  • Year-to-date balances and STP – earnings, tax and super for the year to date, so STP continues without duplicate income statements
  • Parallel runs and timing – how many pay cycles to run side by side, and whether to switch mid-year or at 1 July

Build agreed before you commit, two parallel pay runs minimum, and most projects reach first go-live in 3–4 months (indicative) – how Affinity migration works →

Not sure where to start? Talk it through with the Affinity team – we'll look at your Definitiv setup, awards and pay cycles and what a move would involve.

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Frequently asked questions

Who owns Definitiv?

Definitiv was acquired by The Access Group, a UK-headquartered global business-software group, in August 2021, and now sits within Access's APAC portfolio, marketed as Definitiv Evo.

How strong is Definitiv's award interpretation?

Definitiv's 100% configurable Award Engine is a recognised strength for complex, multi-award Australian payroll structures.

Does Definitiv handle NZ payroll?

Definitiv supports NZ payroll alongside Australia and Singapore. If you have significant NZ operations, confirm the depth of its Holidays Act handling directly.

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