diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a9744d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+POSTGRES_USER=blueprint_admin_backend
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
+POSTGRES_DB=postgres
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d5336b1..79f0736 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -37,4 +37,7 @@ out/
 .vscode/
 
 ### Docker ###
-postgres-data
\ No newline at end of file
+postgres-data
+
+### ENVIRONMENT ###
+.env
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 5b60a28..b9de65e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
-FROM gradle:8.7.0-jdk17 AS build
-COPY --chown=gradle:gradle . /home/gradle/src
-WORKDIR /home/gradle/src
-RUN gradle build --no-daemon -x test
+FROM openjdk:17-slim
 
-FROM openjdk:8-jre-slim
+WORKDIR /app
 
-EXPOSE 8080
+COPY gradlew /app/
+COPY gradle /app/gradle
+COPY build.gradle /app/
+
+RUN ./gradlew --no-daemon dependencies
 
-RUN mkdir /app
+COPY build/libs/*.jar app.jar
 
-COPY --from=build /home/gradle/src/build/libs/*.jar /app/spring-boot-application.jar
+EXPOSE 8080
 
-ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions", "-XX:+UseCGroupMemoryLimitForHeap", "-Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom","-jar","/app/spring-boot-application.jar"]
\ No newline at end of file
+ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "app.jar"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ecf0b43..452a4ac 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 Spring Java application that hosts the backend for our Blueprint Admin application. This project will help us manage Blueprint members.
 
 ## Running the service
+Copy the environment variables from .env.example
+```
+cp .env.example .env
+```
 Initialize docker container with postgres service. If you don't have docker installed you can install [here](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/).
 ```
 docker-compose up -d
@@ -11,6 +15,16 @@ Build the application
 ./gradlew build
 ```
 Run the application. (You have to run the ```admin/BlueprintAdmin.java``` this is the entry point of the Spring application).
+Else, you can use the following command to run the Spring application:
+```
+./gradlew bootRun
+```
+You should see the following output in your terminal
+```
+o.s.b.w.embedded.tomcat.TomcatWebServer  : Tomcat started on port 8080 (http) with context path ''
+com.sitblueprint.admin.BlueprintAdmin    : Started BlueprintAdmin in 2.255 seconds (process running for 2.392)
+
+```
 
 ## How to connect to database in Docker Container?
 Start the docker container
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index 50edb8e..73e9a41 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ services:
     image: postgres:10.5
     restart: always
     environment:
-      - POSTGRES_USER=blueprint_admin_backend
-      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
-      - POSTGRES_DB=postgres
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB}
     logging:
       options:
         max-size: 10m
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sitblueprint/admin/controller/applications/ApplicationFormController.java b/src/main/java/com/sitblueprint/admin/controller/applications/ApplicationFormController.java
index add3c85..777f4cd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sitblueprint/admin/controller/applications/ApplicationFormController.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sitblueprint/admin/controller/applications/ApplicationFormController.java
@@ -19,11 +19,6 @@ public List<ApplicationForm> getApplicationForms() {
         return applicationFormService.getApplicationForms();
     }
 
-    @GetMapping
-    public ApplicationForm getApplicationFormById(@Param("applicationFormId") String applicationFormId) {
-        return applicationFormService.getApplicationFormById(Long.parseLong(applicationFormId));
-    }
-
     @PostMapping("/submit")
     public ApplicationForm submitApplicationForm(@RequestBody ApplicationForm applicationForm) {
         return applicationFormService.createApplicationForm(applicationForm);