diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index b1bbc6c..8de7ca5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -57,5 +57,5 @@ jobs:
         with:
           stack-name: ${{ matrix.stack-name }}
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-          ref-zenml: ${{ inputs.ref-zenml || 'feature/PRD-566-dependency-cleanup' }}
+          ref-zenml: ${{ inputs.ref-zenml || 'bugfix/PRD-653-fix-models-linkage' }}
           ref-template: ${{ inputs.ref-template || github.ref }}
diff --git a/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}compute_performance_metrics_on_current_data.py{% endif %} b/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}compute_performance_metrics_on_current_data.py{% endif %}
index 4aa164d..146ea8c 100644
--- a/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}compute_performance_metrics_on_current_data.py{% endif %}	
+++ b/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}compute_performance_metrics_on_current_data.py{% endif %}	
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ def compute_performance_metrics_on_current_data(
     current_version = Model(name=latest_version.name, version=target_env)
 
     latest_version_number = latest_version.number
-    current_version_number = current_version.number
+    try:
+        current_version_number = current_version.number
+    except KeyError:
+        current_version_number = None
 
     if current_version_number is None:
         current_version_number = -1
diff --git a/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}promote_with_metric_compare.py{% endif %} b/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}promote_with_metric_compare.py{% endif %}
index 89eb886..ffd8d5d 100644
--- a/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}promote_with_metric_compare.py{% endif %}	
+++ b/template/steps/promotion/{% if metric_compare_promotion %}promote_with_metric_compare.py{% endif %}	
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@ def promote_with_metric_compare(
     latest_version = get_step_context().model
     current_version = Model(name=latest_version.name, version=target_env)
 
-    current_version_number = current_version.number
+    try:
+        current_version_number = current_version.number
+    except KeyError:
+        current_version_number = None
 
     if current_version_number is None:
         logger.info("No current model version found - promoting latest")