The Challenge
BAR Group Pty Ltd, with over two decades of experience serving B2B customers throughout Australia and New Zealand, faced escalating challenges as its business expanded. The company’s MYOB Classic system became increasingly unstable, with file sizes ballooning to two gigabytes and frequent crashes disrupting daily operations. Manual data entry and disconnected workflows created inefficiencies and limited visibility into financial and inventory positions across multiple locations. These limitations hindered the ability to respond quickly to business demands and constrained the company’s growth. As described by Andrew Baihn, Systems and Technology Lead at BAR Group: "We'd outgrown it, full stop. The file became about two gigabytes in size. We needed to keep a short amount of history, archive aggressively, split the file - and we'd still face a crash every so often."
Why MYOB Acumatica - and Why Stratus
BAR Group's decision to move to MYOB Acumatica was driven first and foremost by stability - and second by opportunity. Andrew recognised that migrating to a cloud-based ERP would not just solve the crashing problem; it would open the door to capabilities the business had never had access to before.
Stratus Consulting Group supported BAR Group from the very beginning of the evaluation
process, providing access to a sandbox environment that allowed Andrew to thoroughly explore and validate the system before committing to go-live. This client-led approach - with Stratus available in the background whenever needed - gave BAR Group the confidence to move at a pace that was right for their business. The fact that MYOB Acumatica shared familiar branding with their previous MYOB system also
helped ease the internal transition - giving the team a sense of continuity even as the
technology shifted significantly.
The fact that MYOB Acumatica shared familiar branding with their previous MYOB system also helped ease the internal transition - giving the team a sense of continuity even as the technology shifted significantly.
The Implementation: A Client-Led Approach
Stratus provided BAR Group with a dedicated sandbox environment from the outset - a
deliberate approach that allowed Andrew to immerse himself in the system, run thorough UAT, and build internal capability before going live. Over the course of the implementation, Andrew was able to test workflows, validate data structures, and ensure every part of the business was ready for the transition.
This model of implementation reflects one of Stratus's core beliefs: that a successful ERP golive is one where the client truly owns the system. By equipping BAR Group with the
environment and support to learn at their own pace, Stratus helped set the foundation for a confident, stable go-live.
Since going live, the relationship between BAR Group and Stratus has continued to grow.
Ongoing support has been a consistent resource as Andrew looks to further develop and
optimise within the platform - and the two teams are increasingly working together on new initiatives as BAR Group's use of MYOB Acumatica deepens.
Results: Stability, Visibility, and a Platform for Growth
Stability - The Foundation Everything Else Is Built On
The most immediate and impactful benefit of moving to MYOB Acumatica was one that is hard
to quantify but impossible to ignore: the system simply works.
"Half of the biggest benefit is the stability. I cannot under-emphasise it.
Stability was big for us - and we felt it. We felt the stability."
No more crashes. No more waiting for file recovery. No more lost productivity from a system
that would periodically bring the business to a halt.
Real-Time Reporting and Data Access
Where BAR Group previously had to manually export data and refresh reports in a disconnected process, MYOB Acumatica now feeds live data directly into their reporting environment via OData.
Automation Replacing Manual Processes
MYOB Acumatica's business events, automation schedules, import scenarios, and export
scenarios have replaced what were once labour-intensive, error-prone manual processes:
• Automated import scenarios feed and manipulate data back into the system on a
schedule
• Export scenarios push data directly to the BAR Group website
• Business events trigger notifications on record changes
• Exception reports run automatically and are delivered by email
"All of that stuff just runs like clockwork. Really fantastic - being able to
take data that already exists, manipulate it, feed it back in, notify related
parties."
Margin Analysis and Financial Visibility
BAR Group now has real-time visibility into the profitability of everything they invoice. A daily automated email summarises the previous day's invoiced items against target margins - flagging exceptions immediately.
Financial control has also improved significantly. Extracting data for analysis, reviewing expense allocations, and running exception reports for accounts is now fast and straightforward.
Supplier Pricing History
One example of the new capabilities that MYOB Acumatica has unlocked is supplier pricing history. Where previously there was no clean way to track when a supplier changed their pricing, BAR Group can now record valid date ranges for each supplier price per item.
One System for Australia and New Zealand Both the Australian and New Zealand branches now operate under a single MYOB Acumatica tenant - consolidating what were previously two separate MYOB files into one unified, multientity environment.
Looking Ahead: Building on a Strong Foundation
BAR Group's journey with MYOB Acumatica is still evolving. Andrew sees the platform not as a solved problem, but as a foundation from which the business can continue to build -and Stratus as an increasingly important partner in that process.
Key priorities for the future include deeper web integration between MYOB Acumatica and their customer-facing website, continued development of internal automation, and closer
collaboration with Stratus on custom development work.
Andrew's vision for the Stratus relationship going forward is one of active partnership -
commissioning development work with confidence, tapping into Stratus's expertise to accelerate delivery, and continuing to unlock new capabilities within the platform together
Would They Recommend It?
Without hesitation, Andrew endorses both MYOB Acumatica and Stratus - with one piece of clear advice for other businesses considering the move:
For BAR Group, that investment paid off. A business that once faced unpredictable system crashes and manual reporting bottlenecks now operates on a stable, scalable platform - with the visibility and automation to support its next phase of growth
