Personally if i want to build a bike period correct i look at what components were available at the time of the frame release. For example if fitting XTR i would use M900 before and up to '95, M910 for a '95 bike, M95* groups for after.
Some manufactures did release a new frame every 2 years, Kona for example, just with a different paint job, pretty much the same with motorbike manufactures, though i dont really know about other bike brands.
Other things depict the components for me if not too bothered about period/catalogue spec, like frame features, i always try to run canti's on canti frames for example and dont really like mixing groupsets by the same manufacturer.