How to Merge Class Specifications

Specification merging combines two or more classifications into one. Over time, classifications can drift apart from organizational restructuring, separate hiring decisions, or career progressions that grew more complex than they need to be. Merging gives you a way to consolidate that sprawl into a cleaner set of specs without losing the content that matters.

Holly's merge tool doesn't just stitch documents together. It analyzes the content of each specification you select and produces a draft that reflects your stated priorities, whether that means preserving specific certifications, reconciling different experience requirements, or deciding which job title and salary structure should anchor the result.

Classifications that evolved separately but now do similar work. Two roles created years apart for different departments may have converged on nearly identical duties.

Organizational restructuring. A reorg can leave you with duplicate positions across departments that should be consolidated into one classification.

Overly complex career progressions. A series with too many narrow levels can be simplified by merging adjacent levels into clearer, more meaningful steps.

Administrative efficiency. Maintaining many near-duplicate specs increases your maintenance burden. Merging reduces that overhead.

Navigate to any specification and click the Internals tab to see merge candidates: specifications with 60% similarity or higher compared to your chosen spec.

The Internal specifications view displays:

Holly automatically surfaces specifications with a 60% or higher match. If you're looking for a spec that doesn't appear automatically, use the search bar covered in Adding and Managing Comparators.

Click the ▼ arrow next to any specification to see comprehensive information across three tabs.

Details tab — any notes added, and the pay schedule with hourly, biweekly, monthly, and annual conversions.

Class specification tab — the full specification content.

Similarity analysis tab — a summary of the analysis, key similarities, key differences, and recommendations for how to use the comparison.

Use this detailed view to confirm that a high similarity score reflects a genuine merge opportunity and not just a surface-level match.

Click Merge from the Action dropdown on any comparison. Holly opens a merge interface that walks you through the decisions that shape your result.

Choose all classifications you want to combine. The specification you started from is pre-selected.

Selection tips:

Select your merge approach from the dropdown. Holly offers two strategies.

Option 1: Use a Specification as Base Template

Select "Use [Specification Name] as base template" for any of your selected specs.

How it works:

Best for: situations where one classification should remain the dominant structure, where you want continuity with an existing well-built spec, or where the salary range and title need to stay consistent. This covers most standard merge scenarios.

Example: Say you want to streamline your Account Clerk series by removing Account Clerk – Advanced Level, while making sure some of its responsibilities carry over. You could use Account Clerk – Experienced Level as the base template and instruct Holly to incorporate the KSAs from the Advanced Level. The result keeps the Experienced Level's salary range and structure, enhanced with the relevant content from the level you're removing.

Option 2: Create New Specification

Select "Create entirely new specification" to build an entirely new classification.

How it works:

Best for: equal mergers where no specification should be dominant, cases where the existing specs are outdated or incomplete, or building something genuinely new without legacy structure.

Example: Merging several aging IT classifications into a modern, comprehensive technology specialist role that doesn't favor any one legacy structure.

This step depends on your merge approach.

If you're using a base template, the modal displays that specification's existing salary range, and this range carries over to the merged spec.

If you're creating a new specification, you'll input the salary range directly. Consider the ranges from your source specifications as a starting point.

Use the additional information field to tell Holly how to handle your specific merge priorities. This step is optional, but it meaningfully improves your results.

Guidance helps Holly prioritize competing content from multiple sources, keep critical requirements front and center, and reflect your organization's specific needs. It also tends to produce a better result on the first attempt, which saves you regeneration cycles later.

Guidance tips:

Click Merge to generate your new specification. Holly processes the merge and takes you to the resulting draft.

Holly creates a draft specification combining your selected specs. Review the results carefully before publishing.

What you'll see:

Use the change chips as your starting point for review. They tell you exactly what Holly drew from each source, which makes it easier to spot anything that needs adjustment without rereading every section from scratch.

Refining your merge:

Once you're satisfied with the merged specification, publish it through your normal approval workflow. Your original specifications remain available and can be archived when you're ready.