In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include determining individual spectrum requirements for each of a plurality of signals to be communicated in an optical network, wherein a first signal of the plurality of signals has a first spectrum requirement and a second signal of the plurality of signals has a second spectrum requirement. The method may also include calculating a minimum spectrum granularity based on the individual spectrum requirements. The method may further include assigning each particular signal a channel spectrum equal to an integer multiple of the minimum spectrum granularity.