What content agencies should pin down before handover
What to confirm about copy, asset libraries, publishing access, and the working context that keeps content operations usable.
Content handover often fails quietly. The outgoing team may send a folder of assets and a final content plan, so it feels as though everything important has been transferred. But the day-to-day operating context is often what gets lost.
What gets mistaken for continuity
Content work often looks easy to continue because the outputs are visible, even when the operating context underneath them never moved.
The final plan was shared, so the team assumes the day-to-day workflow came with it.
Assets were delivered, so everyone assumes the source library is already organised and complete.
Someone can publish, so the agency assumes the publishing route is properly documented and safe.
Project record
Ongoing content retainer
Must resolve
CMS publishing route missing
The content exists, but the incoming team cannot safely publish or amend it.
Needs checking
Content calendar supplied
The planning sheet exists, but the operating assumptions behind it have not been verified.
That is the real issue with content handover. You can receive the outputs while still missing the workflow that makes those outputs usable next month.
Worth checking before sign-off
These are usually the first things that get lost when a content handover looks complete but the operating context has not really moved across.
Master copy documents and approved final text
Image and video source libraries
Publishing platform access and roles
Content calendars, planning sheets, and naming conventions
Any supplier-owned storage location still holding working material
Pressure test
If the outgoing team vanished this week, could your agency still plan, publish, and update the content without rebuilding the working context from scratch?
Safe handover for content work means the agency has both the materials and the operating context needed to keep publishing without friction.
That includes the messy practical details: where draft text lives, how assets are named, who publishes what, and what assumptions sit behind the calendar.
How Custody helps
Custody helps agencies turn handover into a visible record of what is missing, what is still externally held, and what has actually been verified.