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Approve a media plan

4 stepsUpdated 13 Oct 2026

Press Approve Plan on the plan’s page. The plan becomes Approved and Orbit creates its campaign in Command Center.

Before you start

Who can do this: Agency Owner, Admin, Manager or Specialist
You need: The plan isn’t archived, and its status isn’t Approved, Live, Paused or Completed.
The plan has its Client set. The campaign takes its client from the plan, and pushing to The Trade Desk needs one.
Where in Orbit: Sidebar › Workspace › Media plans

Steps

Tick a step’s number when it’s done. We’ll remember where you were.

Open Media plans and select the plan.
Check the client name at the top and the Plan Lines. To change anything, press Edit and save first.
Press . It reads “Approving & launching agents…” while it works.
Orbit opens the new campaign in Command Center.

When it worked

The button shows “Approved — opening cockpit…” and you land on the campaign. The plan’s button then reads Plan Approved, and everyone at your agency gets a “Campaign workspace created” notification.

If something goes wrong

There’s no Approve Plan button.
It’s hidden on archived plans. Once a plan is Approved, Live, Paused or Completed, Plan Approved or Plan Launched shows instead.
You set the plan to Live, Paused or Completed before approving it.
Press Edit, change Status back to Draft, Planning or Pending Approval, and save. Approve Plan then shows again.
Orbit showsUnexpected error — please try again
Check your connection and press Approve Plan again. If it keeps failing, email support with the plan number.
You approved the plan, changed it, and the campaign didn’t update.
A campaign keeps the plan’s lines as they were at approval. Make the change in the campaign’s Build instead.

How it works

Explainer: What approving a plan does

Approve Plan sets the plan to Approved and creates its campaign in Command Center, with a copy of the plan’s lines as they are at that moment.

The plan’s status becomes Approved, and Orbit records who approved it and when.
Its campaign is created in Command Center with a copy of the plan’s lines, and the campaign’s planning and build start straight away.
Everyone at your agency gets a “Campaign workspace created” notification.
You’re taken to the new campaign in Command Center.
There’s no confirmation step, so check the plan before you press it.
The campaign keeps the lines and client the plan had at approval. Edits to the plan afterwards don’t reach it.
Set the plan’s Client before you approve. Pushing the campaign to The Trade Desk needs one.
Approve Plan isn’t shown on archived plans, or once a plan is Approved, Live, Paused or Completed.

Explainer: Media plan statuses

A plan’s status says where it is in its life. You pick Draft, Planning, Pending Approval, Live, Completed or Paused yourself. Approved and Changes Requested are set only by an approval.

Media plan statuses
Status	How it’s set	What it changes
Draft	The default for new, duplicated and imported plans.	The only status where Delete shows on a plan that isn’t archived.
Planning	You pick it.	Nothing else.
Pending Approval	You pick it.	Counts in Pending Approval on the Media plans page, and raises a pending-approval alert on the Dashboard.
Approved	Approve Plan, or a client approving it in their portal.	Creates the plan’s campaign in Command Center. The button reads Plan Approved.
Changes Requested	A client presses Request Changes in their portal.	Approve Plan is still available.
Live	You pick it.	Counts in Live Now and shows in the Dashboard’s Active campaigns. Plan Launched replaces Approve Plan.
Paused	You pick it.	Plan Launched replaces Approve Plan.
Completed	You pick it.	Plan Launched replaces Approve Plan.

Pick a status under Status on the Plan Overview tab.
Approved and Changes Requested aren’t in the Status list, so you can’t choose them yourself.
Approve a plan before you set it to Live, Paused or Completed. Only approving creates its campaign, and those three statuses hide Approve Plan.
Restoring an earlier version brings back that version’s status too.

Explainer: How campaigns work in Command Center

Each campaign comes from one approved media plan. Approving the plan creates the campaign, copies the plan’s lines into it, and starts its planning and build.

Open a campaign from Command Center and the sidebar changes to that campaign’s sections. All campaigns takes you back to the list.

The sections of a campaign
Section	What it’s for
Overview	The Launch Ready ring, the Workstreams and their progress, and Issues.
Planning	The approved plan’s lines grouped by channel, any planning issues, and the card that starts or re-runs the build.
Build	The campaigns, ad groups and creatives the build made for The Trade Desk. Edit them here, then push.

A campaign keeps the plan’s lines and client as they were at approval. Editing the plan afterwards doesn’t change the campaign or its build.
Campaigns can’t be created, deleted or archived in Command Center. Archiving or deleting the plan doesn’t remove its campaign either.
Audiences, Tagging, Creative and QA are marked Soon in the campaign’s sidebar and aren’t available yet.