Answering 'which version is live?' from one record
Stop the which-version-is-live question by keeping one live register: a record of every asset currently running in market, with its version, channel, start date, and the person who published it. Update it at the moment of publishing, and point every stakeholder to it instead of the agency, the shared drive, or the last email.
The question arrives from many directions. A regional manager sees an ad and asks if the price is right. Legal wants to know whether the corrected disclaimer went out. The CEO forwards a screenshot from a friend. Customer service receives a complaint quoting an offer. Each time, someone in marketing spends an afternoon checking platforms and messaging agencies, and the answer is often still uncertain.
Approval records say what should be live, not what is
Approval and publication are separate events, and teams often track only the first. A file approved on Monday may be published on Wednesday, partly replaced on Friday, and left running in one placement nobody remembered. The approval record tells you what ought to be in market; it cannot tell you what customers are seeing.
Multiple publishers make it worse. The media agency runs paid placements, the social team posts organically, the web team updates landing pages, and partners publish co-branded material. Each knows its own channel. Nobody holds the combined picture unless someone builds it on purpose.
Localised and partner versions multiply the problem. One campaign can run in several languages, with distributor co-branding and different offers for Peninsular Malaysia and for Sabah and Sarawak, and each combination is a separate version that someone might ask about.
Fields in a live register entry
Keep entries short so publishers fill them in without complaint.
- Asset name and version number, matching the approved file
- Channel and placement: platform, page URL, or physical location
- Published by: the named person or agency contact
- Live from, plus the scheduled end date if there is one
- Approval reference showing who signed off that exact version
- Status: live, paused, replaced, or ended
Making publishers responsible for their entries
The approval reference ties the register to your approval workflow. An entry that cannot point to an approval is itself a finding to raise with the campaign lead.
Whoever presses publish updates the register. That includes agencies, so write the obligation into the agency brief or scope of work. A campaign manager reconstructing the register at the end of the week will miss things; a publisher logging the change in the moment rarely does.
Pauses count as changes too. When a placement is paused for a holiday, a sensitive news event, or a stock shortage, the publisher updates the status straight away so nobody tells a customer an offer is running when it has stopped.
Replacements need the same discipline. When a new version goes live, the old entry moves to replaced with a date and the new one is added. That leaves a history for anyone who later asks what was running on a given day, which is exactly what legal will want during a complaint.
Spot-checking the market against the register
Registers drift unless someone checks them. Each week during active campaigns, pick a handful of entries and confirm the live placement matches the version recorded. Look hardest at the places teams forget: partner websites, app store listings, printed point-of-sale, and email automations that keep sending an old version long after the campaign changed.
Use the checks to build dated evidence. A screenshot of each checked placement, filed with its register entry, answers the later question of what a customer could have seen on a particular day.
Treat mismatches as process faults rather than individual blame. Find which step was skipped, fix that step, and note the fix so the same gap does not reopen on the next campaign.
Pointing every stakeholder to the same answer
The register only cuts questions if stakeholders know it exists and can read it. Share a read-only view with legal, customer service, regional managers, and the executive office, and reply to version questions with a link to it rather than a fresh investigation.
Close each campaign by marking every remaining entry as ended and confirming the take-downs happened. Assets left running after a campaign finishes are the ones most likely to carry an expired offer.
Teams that already track drafts and approvals in one system find the register easier to keep, because the published asset becomes the next step in the same record. BukuReach, Fasttrade's product for marketing teams, tracks content through drafts, approvals, and published assets, and Fasttrade can confirm whether that matches your channels and publishers.
Frequently asked questions
Is a live register different from an asset library?
Yes. An asset library holds approved files that may be used. A live register lists what is actually running in market right now, where, and since when. An approved asset can sit unused in the library, and an old asset can still be live in one forgotten placement. Stakeholders asking what customers see need the register.
Who should check that the live register is accurate?
A campaign manager or marketing operations lead, through short spot checks during active campaigns. Publishers keep their own entries current; the checker compares a sample against what is visible in market. Splitting those roles catches errors the person who published would not notice in their own work, especially in less visible placements.
How do we track email and automation versions?
Log each automated email or message sequence as its own entry, recording the version of every step that is currently sending. Automations are easy to forget because they run without anyone touching them. Review them whenever an offer, price, disclaimer, or brand element changes, and record the date each step was updated.
Next step
Explore BukuReach or tell Fasttrade what your team needs.
These articles explain enterprise process design. Product availability and detailed scope are confirmed in conversation.