An AI draft can be complete in a document and unfinished for the customer.

The team still needs to check claims, add metadata, fix links, confirm accessibility, choose the destination, obtain the right approval, and publish the version that was actually accepted. This last stretch is easy to leave out of an AI productivity calculation.

The asset is finished when the intended audience can use it safely at the intended destination.

Separate accepted from live#

Use distinct stages:

Stage	Meaning
Drafted	An initial version exists
Reviewed	A person or check inspected the version
Accepted	The named owner approved this version for its stated use
Publish-ready	Metadata, links, accessibility, and destination checks passed
Live	The asset is available at the intended destination
Closed	The asset was rejected, superseded, or expired

These stages answer different questions. A team can accept 90% of drafts and publish 60% if the website queue, legal review, or campaign date is the bottleneck.

Find the work after acceptance#

Track the tasks that appear between acceptance and publication:

Check	Common failure	Cost created
Title and description	Metadata remains generic or missing	Search and editorial repair
Links	Destination or tracking link is wrong	Review, rework, and attribution loss
Claims	Final edit changes a supported sentence	Product or legal re-review
Accessibility	Image text, headings, or labels are incomplete	Accessibility repair and delay
Destination	Asset is sent to the wrong page or channel	Version comparison and republishing
Approval scope	Reviewer approved a draft, not the final edit	Another decision
Expiry	Campaign date passes in the queue	Work that never becomes useful

The waste-before-publish guide covers why an abandoned asset still has a cost. The publishing stage explains where the abandonment happened.

Use a small publish-ready checklist#

Before a content owner marks an item ready, confirm:

the accepted version ID matches the version being published;
every public claim has a current source or approved exception;
links resolve to the intended destination;
tracking fields follow the campaign convention;
title, description, headings, and structured fields are present;
images have the required alternative text and localized treatment;
the owner and approver are named;
the publish date still makes sense;
the live URL or destination ID will be captured after release.

The checklist should be short enough to use on every item. Put specialized checks behind the content class, such as legal language for a regulated claim or local review for a market adaptation.

Example: 40 accepted assets, 23 live#

Suppose a team accepts 40 assets during a launch:

Outcome	Count	Reason
Live on schedule	23	Destination and approvals ready
Live late	7	Web queue or missing metadata
Held for claim review	4	Final source changed
Returned for link or format repair	3	Publish check failed
Closed after the campaign	3	Date passed

The generation dashboard may call all 40 a success. The campaign received 30 live assets, seven of them late. Finance and marketing need that distinction when they decide whether the process created capacity.

Assign the last-mile owner#

The person who writes the draft should not have to guess who owns publication. Define:

the asset owner;
the publisher or channel owner;
the source owner for factual claims;
the approver for the content class;
the person who closes expired work;
the place where the live destination is recorded.

An owner can delegate the check. The responsibility still needs one name. A queue with six participants and no decision owner is a delay waiting to be measured.

Measure time from acceptance to live#

Track:

median and 90th-percentile time from acceptance to publication;
percentage live by the requested date;
returns after acceptance;
missing fields per asset;
links or destinations repaired;
accepted assets that expire;
review minutes after the first acceptance.

The review-SLA guide focuses on the queue before a decision. Add the publish queue so a fast approval does not create a false picture of a fast campaign.

Make final edits visible#

A final edit can change the risk of an accepted asset. Keep a short change note when someone changes:

a product fact;
a price or offer;
a customer or performance claim;
the audience or channel;
a link or destination;
a disclosure or qualification.

The edit may be correct. The point is to give the relevant owner a reason to recheck the sentence rather than silently changing the approved scope.

Deixic gives teams current activity, approval decisions, connected tools, and evidence around agent work. Use the product view to see what is waiting and what has a missing proof point, then connect the final destination to the campaign system after publication.