The short answer
If Labour Inspection calls, export each person’s daily record (start and end time), the incidents and the trail of what was approved — not a Friday weekly total. As of 18 August 2026 article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute (Royal Decree-Law 8/2019) applies: keep the record for four years and make it available to the employee, employee representatives if any, and Inspection.
The digital time-record royal decree is not in the official gazette. There is no certification certificate that replaces that export. A working-time report is the output of what was clocked and approved, not an ITSS badge.
Paper and Excel are still formally valid if the record is reliable. A spreadsheet rebuilt on the day of the visit is not.
What does Inspection already ask for (18 August 2026)?
Inspection does not wait for September. Under the current framework it usually checks whether a daily record exists, whether it has real start and end times, whether it is kept for four years, whether it is accessible, and whether it is reliable.
- A record for every employee, including part-time, seasonal and remote staff. A sole trader with no staff does not record themselves.
- Start and end of each day, not a rota or a weekly total. A shift plan is not a record.
- Four years somewhere you can actually retrieve. A manager’s phone is not an archive.
- Access for the employee, for representatives if any, and for Inspection. “It is at the office” does not work on the day of the visit.
- Current record fines sit in the LISOS minor and serious bands, roughly €70 to €7,500 depending on the case. The much higher draft figures are not in force.
- The legal maximum remains 40 hours a week on average, unless an agreement or pact is more favourable. The 37.5-hour week is not law.
What should you export: hours, incidents and capacity?
The useful export is the one that comes from what the team clocked and what was approved. Not the one assembled by hand so it “looks tidy”.
- Hours by employee and by site. Inspection and the payroll firm ask about people and, often, about where the work happened.
- Incidents and missed clock-ins, not only the monthly total. A month with no incidents is often a dressed-up month.
- A team capacity view: who is in, who is out, what the plan covers. It does not replace the record; it helps you read it.
- Excel export to show or send. The file is an output of the system, not the sheet on which the month is rewritten.
- The old clock-in analytics URL redirects to this same reports page. It is not another product.
What are the eight Time report groups?
The module hub has eight groups. They are not a separate product or an add-on pack: they come from what was clocked and what was approved.
Summary and clock-ins
An executive summary to see the month at a glance. Clock-ins for the detail of the marks — the closest thing to the daily entry.
Hours and planned vs actual
Hours worked by person and site. Planned versus actual to contrast the rota with what was clocked. The plan does not replace the record.
Capacity and absences
Team capacity and absences. They help operations and payroll. They are not a working-time certificate.
Productivity and alerts
Productivity and alerts for whoever closes the month. A dashboard is not what you hand over if Inspection calls: you hand over the record and the incidents.
Is an exported spreadsheet a certification badge?
No. Nobody hands you an ITSS or AEAT certificate that “homologates” the software. Anyone selling that is using a word that does not map to a public register today.
- As of 18 August 2026 the digital royal decree has not been published. September is, under the July 2026 agreement, when Labour and Economy intend to process it. It is not the day the law magically changes.
- Paper and Excel are still formally valid if they are daily, complete and retrievable. If the decree passes as discussed, it will move against Excel as the main system. It has not done so today.
- Exporting to Excel from a system does not turn that file into a badge. It turns the month into a file you can show, with the same content already in the system.
- A productivity report does not replace start and end times. If Inspection asks for the record, show the record, not a chart.
- This article is informational. It does not replace your advisor or the official gazette.
What is the difference between the record and a dashboard?
The dashboard is for closing the month. The record is for showing it. If you only have the first, you improvise the second on the day of the visit.
- The record is the daily entry: person, start, end. Kept and accessible.
- The report is the view and the export of those entries, plus incidents, hours and capacity.
- The payroll firm needs the same standard for every client. A different spreadsheet per company is the usual problem, not a total lack of data.
- The Laboral module (payroll, contracts) is the next step when hours have to reach the payslip. You do not need it to export the record.
- Try exporting the month as if they called tomorrow. If you cannot, the September decree will not fix it.
FAQ
Is a digital report already mandatory?
No. As of 18 August 2026 the daily record is mandatory (start and end, four years, accessible). A digital-only medium is part of the draft royal decree, which is not in the gazette. Paper and Excel are still formally valid if they are reliable.
Does Vacly issue a certified / homologated certificate?
No. There is no official certification of working-time software. What you can show is a retrievable record and an export (hours, incidents, capacity). Nothing more, nothing less.
Does the reports Excel replace the daily record?
No. The export is an output. The record is each day’s entry. If you build the spreadsheet by hand on Friday, you do not have a record: you have a version.
Is clock-in analytics a different tool?
No. The old analytics URL redirects to Time reports. It is the same eight groups, not another page.
Does this work for a payroll firm?
Yes: hours by employee and site, incidents and export, built for the firm and for Inspection, not only a dashboard. Portfolio mode is in Vacly for gestorías. The firm can start with Laboral and add Time later.
Should we wait until September to change systems?
No. September is the planned processing of the decree, not the day Inspection starts asking for the record. That duty has been in force since 2019.
How Vacly Time handles this
Vacly Time builds reports from what the team clocks and what gets approved: hours by employee and site, incidents, missed clock-ins and capacity, with Excel export. The module has eight groups (summary, clock-ins, hours, planned vs actual, capacity, absences, productivity and alerts). The old analytics URL redirects here. The product page is https://www.vacly.es/producto/tiempo/informes. From €8.89 per employee per month, VAT included. 15-day trial. It is not a homologation certificate: that badge does not exist. It is the export you can show if Inspection calls.