The short answer
Time-control software for Spanish SMEs is the manager panel: hours, incidents and attendance reports, not the screen where the employee clocks in. It must let you export the daily record (art. 34.9 ET / RDL 8/2019) for Labour Inspection or the payroll firm, without rebuilding the month by hand.
It is not “certified” by the labour inspectorate or the tax agency: that list does not exist. The panel shows the record; it does not replace your labour advisor.
If you want the status of the digital royal decree, that is in the 2026 working-time article. This piece is about what the person who closes the month should see.
Are clock-in and time control the same thing?
No. Clock-in is what the person does on arrival and departure. Time control is what the person who must close the month, validate a miss or show the record sees. Mixing the two screens is how the manager ends up rebuilding a spreadsheet on Friday.
- The employee needs a fast channel (web, app or WhatsApp Business) and access to their own record: the law requires it to be available to the worker.
- The manager needs the whole team: who clocked in, who is missing, which incident is open, and whether any hours do not add up.
- A rota or a contractual timetable is not time control. Article 34.9 asks for actual hours, not theoretical ones.
- The legal maximum remains 40 hours on an annual average, unless an agreement or pact says otherwise. 37.5 hours is not law. The panel must not “cut” calendars as if it were.
What should the manager see (and what not)?
The panel works if it answers three questions in a minute: who is in, what is still open, and whether you can export the month. It does not work if it is a pretty dashboard you cannot show anyone.
Yes: the team and what is open
Who clocked in, who did not, breaks and pending incidents. Bulk approval when the month is clean; one by one when it is not.
Yes: hours and attendance
Hours by person and site, absences, and a productivity read without building the sheet by hand. Planned versus clocked, if there are shifts.
No: the chat or the badge
A WhatsApp thread is not the panel. Neither is a “certified” sticker. The manager shows entries, not a medal.
No: the theoretical timetable as if it were real
If everyone “clocks” exactly the contract hours every day, Inspection will ask more questions, not fewer.
How do you export the month for Inspection or the payroll firm?
Current law requires a daily start-and-end record, kept for four years and accessible. Inspection does not wait for a new decree to ask for it. Record-keeping fines sit today in the LISOS minor and serious bands, roughly €70 to €7,500.
- Export clock-ins, hours and incidents, not a screenshot. The usual destination is Excel, for the firm or for the visit.
- Test access: can a person request their record? Could you produce it tomorrow if Inspection called?
- A different spreadsheet per client is the usual payroll-firm problem. The panel has to come out the same in every company.
- Eight useful close-of-month groups: summary, clock-ins, hours, planned versus actual, capacity, absences, productivity and alerts. They are not another product: they come from what was clocked and what was approved.
- The digital royal decree is not in the official gazette. Paper and Excel are still formally valid if they are reliable. The panel does not “update you” to a rule that does not exist yet; it stops the record being rewritten with no trail.
Is time-control software certified?
No. There is no official AEAT or ITSS list of certified working-time software. Anyone selling that badge is using a word that does not map to a public register today.
- What is required is a daily, reliable, accessible record — not a product certificate.
- The panel does not replace your advisor’s legal judgement. It shows what is there; it does not sign that you “comply”.
- If a salesperson says Inspection “only accepts” their tool, ask for the public list. There is none.
FAQ
Does the employee see the same as the manager?
No. The employee clocks in and looks up their record. The manager sees the team, incidents and reports. Both views have to exist; one is not enough.
What must the panel be able to export?
Daily start and end, hours, incidents and, if there are shifts, planned versus actual. Keepable for four years. A screenshot is not enough.
Is digital time control already mandatory?
The daily record is mandatory (art. 34.9 ET). A digital-only medium is part of a royal decree that is not in the gazette. Paper and Excel are still formally valid if they are reliable.
Does our time-control spreadsheet still count?
Yes, if it is complete, daily, and you can show it. No, as a system, if anyone can edit it with no trail or the payroll firm cannot produce it in an hour.
What is the fine today for having no record?
Under the LISOS, record failures sit in the minor and serious bands, roughly €70 to €7,500. Higher draft figures are not in force.
What does it cost and how do we try it?
Vacly Time starts at €8.89 per employee per month, VAT included. 15-day trial, no card required.
How Vacly time control handles this
[Vacly time control](/producto/tiempo/control-tiempo) is the panel for the person who closes the month: hours, incidents and attendance reports, tied to clock-in and company rules. You export for Inspection or the payroll firm without building a Friday spreadsheet. Bulk incident review. It is not certified: that badge does not exist. It is part of the Time module, from €8.89 per employee per month, VAT included.