Overview
As projects evolve through multiple discovery sessions, stakeholders often say contradictory things or request the same feature in different ways. Glossa's Conflict Detection system automatically flags these issues so you can address them during discovery—not during UAT or production.
What Gets Detected
Glossa's Contradiction Checker flags two types of issues:
Contradictory Requirements
Requirements that conflict with each other, such as:
"Users must be able to delete records" vs. "Users cannot delete records"
"Reports should show data from the last 30 days" vs. "Reports should show all historical data"
"Integration should be real-time" vs. "Integration should run nightly"
Duplicate/Overlapping Requirements
Requirements that capture the same need in different words:
"System must send email notifications" and "Platform needs to email users"
"Dashboard should show top 10 donors" appearing twice from different meetings
Similar requirements with slight variations that should probably be merged
Note: Ambiguous or vague requirements are caught by the separate AI Review feature, not the Conflict Detector.
How It Works
Automatic Detection
Contradiction and duplicate detection runs automatically every night:
Glossa reviews all new requirements added since the last check
Each new requirement is compared against all existing requirements in the project
Potential conflicts are flagged and added to the conflict list
You're not notified—conflicts simply appear when you check
Important:
Detection only happens within a single project (not across projects)
It runs automatically—you don't need to trigger it manually
Only new requirements are checked (efficiency)
Merge All Duplicates
In addition to the nightly detection job, you can manually trigger a duplicate scan and auto-merge at any time.
Go to Requirements → Conflicted Requirements tab
Click the Merge All Duplicates button
Glossa scans all requirements in the project for potential duplicates
Any pairs with a 90% or higher match are automatically merged
A pop-up notification ("Auto-Merge started!") appears in the bottom-right corner of your screen if matches are found
Requirements for auto-merge:
Both requirements in a duplicate pair must be in Draft or In Progress status. Pairs where one or both requirements have a different status will not be auto-merged.
Only duplicates are auto-merged—contradictions are never auto-merged and always require human review.
What about matches below 90%?
Potential duplicates that score between 85–90% are still surfaced in the Conflicted Requirements tab for your manual review. If you notice a pair that wasn't auto-merged, it likely fell into this range and needs a human decision.
Viewing what was merged:
After the auto-merge completes, go to the All Requirements tab and sort or filter by Merged status to see which requirements were combined.
The nightly detection job continues to run as usual regardless of whether you use Merge All Duplicates. Think of this button as an on-demand supplement, not a replacement.
Manual Merge
Sometimes you know two requirements are duplicates even though Glossa hasn't flagged them — they may have been worded differently enough to fall below the detection threshold, or both may have existed before the nightly job first ran. Manual Merge lets you combine any two requirements on demand.
Go to Requirements → Conflicted Requirements tab
Click the Manual Merge button (next to Merge All Duplicates)
In the modal that opens, search for and select a Primary Requirement — this is the requirement that will be updated to include content from both sources
Search for and select a Duplicate Requirement — this requirement will be marked as Merged
Click Merge
How it works:
The Primary Requirement is updated to include content from both requirements
The Duplicate Requirement's status is set to Merged
Citations from both requirements are retained on the Primary Requirement for full traceability
Unlike Merge All Duplicates, Manual Merge has no status restrictions. You can merge requirements in any status — Draft, In Progress, Approved, or otherwise. This makes it useful for cleaning up duplicates discovered later in the project lifecycle.
Viewing Conflicts
Conflict Lists
There are two places to see flagged conflicts:
1. Requirements List View
Go to the Requirements tab
Click the Conflicted Requirements sub-tab
See all potential conflicts for the entire project
Filter to show only Contradictory or only Duplicate conflicts
2. Within a Category
Open any Category
See conflicted requirements that are both within that category
Same UI as the main conflict list, just filtered to that category
What You See for Each Conflict
For every flagged conflict pair, you'll see:
Both requirements side by side
Priority of each requirement
Type of each requirement
Flag type - "Contradictory" or "Duplicate"
Glossa's explanation - Why these were flagged as conflicting
Resolution advice - Recommended actions to resolve the conflict
Resolving Conflicts
When you open a conflict, you have four resolution options:
1. Merge
Combines both requirements into one:
The Primary Requirement is updated to include content from both source requirements
The Duplicate Requirement's status is set to Merged
Citations from both requirements are retained for full traceability
Best for duplicates that are saying the same thing
2. Ignore
Marks these as not actually conflicting:
Both requirements remain unchanged
The conflict disappears from active conflicts
Moves to "Resolved" in conflict history
Best when the AI flagged a false positive
3. Cancel 1st
Marks the first requirement as canceled:
Changes the first requirement's status to "Canceled"
Second requirement remains active
Conflict is resolved and logged
Best when you determine the first requirement is wrong or no longer needed
4. Cancel 2nd
Marks the second requirement as canceled:
Changes the second requirement's status to "Canceled"
First requirement remains active
Conflict is resolved and logged
Best when you determine the second requirement is wrong or no longer needed
What Happens After Resolution
Once you choose a resolution action:
Immediate action - The change takes effect right away (merge happens, status changes, etc.)
Conflict logged - The resolution is recorded in the conflict history table
Requirement updated - The action is logged on the requirement record itself
Removed from active - The conflict disappears from the "Active Conflicts" tab
Conflict History
Viewing Past Resolutions
To see previously resolved conflicts:
Go to Requirements → Conflicted Requirements
Scroll down to the Resolved tab (from Active)
See all conflicts that have been addressed
Information in History
For each resolved conflict, you can see:
The two requirements that were in conflict
What action was taken (merged, ignored, canceled)
Who resolved it - Team member name
When it was resolved - Date and time
Original explanation of why it was flagged
This provides a complete audit trail of all requirement changes due to conflicts.
Best Practices
Review Cadence
Recommended: Review conflicts after each discovery session
Discovery sessions often surface new information that contradicts earlier statements
Addressing conflicts while the context is fresh makes resolution faster
Waiting until the end of discovery means more conflicts to untangle
Resolution Guidelines
For Contradictions:
Check the citations to see what was actually said in each source
If one source is more authoritative (e.g., sponsor vs. end user), prioritize that one
If both are valid but from different contexts, you may need to clarify with stakeholders; sometimes, the more recent conversation is correct, as conversations evolve
Document your resolution reasoning for future reference
For Duplicates:
Merge whenever possible to avoid confusion
Check if the "duplicates" actually have subtle differences worth preserving
The merged requirement inherits citations from both, providing stronger justification
Prevention
To minimize conflicts from the start:
Ask clarifying questions during discovery when you hear contradictory statements
Confirm understanding by repeating back what you heard
Document stakeholder alignment in meeting notes
Flag disagreements between stakeholders in real-time
Troubleshooting
Why wasn't this conflict detected?
Possible reasons:
Both requirements are old — Detection only runs on new requirements vs. existing ones. Use the Merge All Duplicates button to trigger a full scan of all requirements, not just new ones (Merge All Duplicates only identifies duplicates).
Different projects — Detection only works within a single project
Not contradictory enough — The AI didn't recognize the conflict in the language used
Has pending changes — Wait until the nightly check runs, or click Merge All Duplicates to trigger an immediate scan
Why wasn't a duplicate pair auto-merged?
If you clicked Merge All Duplicates but a pair of duplicates wasn't merged, check the following:
Match score below 90% — Auto-merge only applies to pairs with a 90%+ match. Pairs between 85–90% are surfaced for manual review instead.
Status mismatch — Both requirements must be in Draft or In Progress status. If either requirement has a different status (e.g., Approved, Canceled), it won't be auto-merged.
It's a contradiction, not a duplicate — Auto-merge only applies to duplicates. Contradictions always require human resolution.
The flagged conflict isn't actually a conflict
This happens occasionally. Simply choose Ignore as your resolution. This tells Glossa these requirements don't conflict and removes them from your active conflicts list.
I merged requirements by mistake
Unfortunately, merged requirements cannot be automatically un-merged. You'll need to:
Create two new separate requirements manually
Copy the content appropriately to each
The original citations may be retained on the merged requirement
Tip: Review the merge action carefully before confirming, as it cannot be easily undone.