diff --git a/reportservice/automatic_run.py b/reportservice/automatic_run.py
index 87e57602a5231789629595c5cc1d9e203de76520..0f3b79cac23d511f543421b089647d4077c567c8 100644
--- a/reportservice/automatic_run.py
+++ b/reportservice/automatic_run.py
@@ -9,15 +9,12 @@ import yaml
 import zmq
 import zmq.asyncio
 
-async def auto_run():
+async def auto_run(cfg):
     """
     Run the report service automatically depending on the scheduled times
     in the run_time list, read from the config yaml file (report_conf.yaml)
     """
 
-    with open("report_conf.yaml", 'r') as ymlfile:
-        cfg = yaml.load(ymlfile)
-
     # time index that points at a timestamp, when the next
     # report service run takes place.
     tidx = 0
@@ -67,7 +64,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     args = vars(arg_parser.parse_args())
     conf_file = args["config_file"]
     with open(conf_file, "r") as f:
-        config = yaml.load(f.read())
+        cfg = yaml.load(f.read())
 
     logfile = args["log_file"]
     fmt = '%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
@@ -78,5 +75,5 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                         datefmt='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
 
     loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
-    loop.run_until_complete(auto_run())
+    loop.run_until_complete(auto_run(cfg))
     loop.close()
diff --git a/reportservice/manual_run.py b/reportservice/manual_run.py
index 6b29d18bf9b9825d1806a43d14312a46528ea5e1..2c6b9293d19b07d211060a65531c9f3c1f0b2e8b 100644
--- a/reportservice/manual_run.py
+++ b/reportservice/manual_run.py
@@ -6,16 +6,15 @@ import urllib.parse
 
 import yaml
 import zmq
-import zmq.asyncio
 
 
-def manual_run(req_instr):
+def manual_run(request, cfg):
     """
     Run the report service manually from any machine
     and provide the requested configuration for
     reports generation.
 
-    :param req_instr: a list for generating reports for the
+    :param request: a list for generating reports for the
                      requested Instruments. This list can
                      contain the Instruments names e.g ['SPB']
                      or ['all'] for generating reports for all
@@ -25,19 +24,18 @@ def manual_run(req_instr):
                      for test purposes.
     """
 
-    with open("report_conf.yaml", 'r') as ymlfile:
-        cfg = yaml.load(ymlfile)
-
     port = cfg['GLOBAL']['server-port']
     con = zmq.Context()
     socket = con.socket(zmq.REQ)
     con = socket.connect(port)
-    socket.send_pyobj(req_instr)
+    socket.send_pyobj(request)
     msg = socket.recv_pyobj()
     logging.info('{} Manual Run'.format(msg))
 
 arg_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Manual Launch')
 arg_parser.add_argument('--instrument', default=['all'], nargs='+')
+arg_parser.add_argument('--testing', dest='testing', action='store_true')
+arg_parser.set_defaults(testing=False)
 arg_parser.add_argument('--config-file', type=str, default='./report_conf.yaml')
 arg_parser.add_argument('--log-file', type=str, default='./report.log')
 arg_parser.add_argument('--logging', type=str, default="INFO",
@@ -47,7 +45,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     args = vars(arg_parser.parse_args())
     conf_file = args["config_file"]
     with open(conf_file, "r") as f:
-        config = yaml.load(f.read())
+        cfg = yaml.load(f.read())
 
     logfile = args["log_file"]
     fmt = '%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
@@ -56,5 +54,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                         level=getattr(logging, args['logging']),
                         format='%(levelname)-6s: %(asctime)s %(message)s',
                         datefmt='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
+    if args["testing"]:
+        request = cfg
+    else: 
+        request = args["instrument"]
 
-    manual_run(args["instrument"])
+    manual_run(request, cfg)