A method begins by a computing device generating a set of write requests regarding a set of encoded data slices and sending the set of write requests to a set of storage units, where each write request includes an encoded data slice, a corresponding slice name, and a transaction number. The method continues with each of at least some of the storage units generating a write response that includes the transaction number and a list of revision levels corresponding to the slice name. The method continues with the computing device receiving the write responses from the at least some of the storage units, determining a most current revision level based on the lists of revision levels and generating a set of write commit messages, where a write commit message includes the transaction number and a new revision level for the set of encoded data slices.