How to Review a Specification in Holly as an External Reviewer

Someone working in government uses a platform called Holly to manage class specifications or "specs," and they've asked you to review one. You don't need to create an account or learn the rest of the platform. You just need to open a link, read the document, leave your feedback, and let them know when you're done.

Look for an email from [email protected] inviting you to review a class spec. It will tell you which position you're reviewing and who asked for your input.

Click the review link in the email. It opens the specification directly in your browser. No login or account setup is required.

You'll land on a single page with the specification's content on the left and a Comments panel on the right.

Take your time reading through the specification. Near the top of the document, you'll see a mode dropdown set to Suggesting by default. If you just want to read without the option of accidentally changing anything, switch it to Viewing instead.

There are two ways to leave feedback, depending on what you want to say.

If you have a question or a concern that doesn't come with an exact fix, select the text you're commenting on, or click + Add comment in the Comments panel, and type your note.

If you know exactly what the text should say, make sure the mode dropdown is set to Suggesting, then edit the text directly. Your changes show up as tracked edits, with additions in green and deletions struck through, for the document owner to accept or reject.

Once you've added everything you want to say, click Finish review near the top of the page. A window opens where you can optionally add a public note summarizing your overall feedback, like "Looks good overall, just flagged a couple of questions." Click Finish to submit.

That's it. Your review is complete, and the person who asked for your feedback will follow up from here. You don't need to do anything else, and you can close the window.