diff --git a/.github/workflows/provision.yml b/.github/workflows/provision.yml
index cdc994b0e..cb3ba4c06 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/provision.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/provision.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 name: Provision environment
 run-name: Provision ${{ github.event.inputs.environment }}
 on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - release-v1.4.1
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       environment:
diff --git a/infrastructure/deployment/deploy.sh b/infrastructure/deployment/deploy.sh
index b21c137c9..ea3e8e809 100755
--- a/infrastructure/deployment/deploy.sh
+++ b/infrastructure/deployment/deploy.sh
@@ -351,16 +351,7 @@ configured_ssh << EOF
 EOF
 
 # Setup configuration files and compose file for the deployment domain
-configured_ssh "
-  HOST=$HOST
-  SMTP_HOST=$SMTP_HOST
-  SMTP_PORT=$SMTP_PORT
-  ALERT_EMAIL=$ALERT_EMAIL
-  SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS=$SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS
-  DOMAIN=$DOMAIN
-  MINIO_ROOT_USER=$MINIO_ROOT_USER
-  MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD
-  /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/setup-deploy-config.sh $HOST | tee -a $LOG_LOCATION/setup-deploy-config.log"
+configured_ssh "/opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/setup-deploy-config.sh $HOST"
 
 rotate_secrets
 
@@ -372,7 +363,6 @@ echo
 echo "Waiting 2 mins for mongo to deploy before working with data. Please note it can take up to 10 minutes for the entire stack to deploy in some scenarios."
 echo
 
-sleep 120 # Required as Kibana cannot be immediately contacted
 echo "Setting up Kibana config & alerts"
 
 while true; do
diff --git a/infrastructure/docker-compose.deploy.yml b/infrastructure/docker-compose.deploy.yml
index 7e7b0e834..6ffd83733 100644
--- a/infrastructure/docker-compose.deploy.yml
+++ b/infrastructure/docker-compose.deploy.yml
@@ -140,8 +140,6 @@ services:
         'file=@/config.ndjson'
       ]
     restart: on-failure
-    depends_on:
-      - kibana
     volumes:
       # Exceed Docker config file 500 kb file limit, thus a volume mount
       - '/opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/config.ndjson:/config.ndjson'
@@ -182,8 +180,6 @@ services:
     configs:
       - source: kibana.{{ts}}
         target: /usr/share/kibana/config/kibana.yml
-    depends_on:
-      - elasticsearch
     logging:
       driver: gelf
       options:
@@ -234,8 +230,6 @@ services:
       replicas: 1
       restart_policy:
         condition: none
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
     environment:
       - REPLICAS=1
       - MONGODB_ADMIN_USER=${MONGODB_ADMIN_USER}
@@ -344,8 +338,6 @@ services:
       /bin/sh -c "
       /usr/bin/mc admin trace --path ocrvs/* minio
       "
-    depends_on:
-      - minio
     configs:
       - source: minio-mc-config.{{ts}}
         target: /root/.mc/config.json
@@ -367,8 +359,6 @@ services:
     image: ubuntu:bionic
     entrypoint: ['bash', '/usr/app/setup.sh']
     restart: on-failure
-    depends_on:
-      - elasticsearch
     environment:
       - ELASTICSEARCH_HOST=elasticsearch
       - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=${ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD}
@@ -405,8 +395,6 @@ services:
       - '/opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/monitoring/elastalert/rules:/opt/elastalert/rules'
     networks:
       - overlay_net
-    depends_on:
-      - elasticsearch
     deploy:
       labels:
         - 'traefik.enable=false'
@@ -423,8 +411,6 @@ services:
   logstash:
     image: logstash:7.17.0
     command: logstash -f /etc/logstash/logstash.conf --verbose
-    depends_on:
-      - elasticsearch
     ports:
       - '12201:12201'
       - '12201:12201/udp'
@@ -447,9 +433,6 @@ services:
       replicas: 1
   apm-server:
     image: docker.elastic.co/apm/apm-server:7.15.2
-    depends_on:
-      - elasticsearch
-      - kibana
     cap_add: ['CHOWN', 'DAC_OVERRIDE', 'SETGID', 'SETUID']
     cap_drop: ['ALL']
     restart: always
@@ -906,8 +889,6 @@ services:
     environment:
       - mongodb__url=mongodb://hearth:${HEARTH_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/hearth-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - logger__level=warn
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
     deploy:
       labels:
         - 'traefik.enable=false'
@@ -930,8 +911,6 @@ services:
     environment:
       - mongo_url=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - mongo_atnaUrl=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
     deploy:
       labels:
         - 'traefik.enable=false'
diff --git a/infrastructure/docker-compose.production-deploy.yml b/infrastructure/docker-compose.production-deploy.yml
index bcbb7e900..e2286275a 100644
--- a/infrastructure/docker-compose.production-deploy.yml
+++ b/infrastructure/docker-compose.production-deploy.yml
@@ -145,9 +145,7 @@ services:
   hearth:
     environment:
       - mongodb__url=mongodb://hearth:${HEARTH_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1,mongo2/hearth-dev?replicaSet=rs0
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
-      - mongo2
+
     deploy:
       replicas: 2
 
@@ -159,17 +157,12 @@ services:
       - HEARTH_MONGO_URL=mongodb://hearth:${HEARTH_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1,mongo2/hearth-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - OPENHIM_MONGO_URL=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1,mongo2/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - WAIT_HOSTS=mongo1:27017,mongo2:27017,influxdb:8086,minio:9000,elasticsearch:9200
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
-      - mongo2
 
   openhim-core:
     environment:
       - mongo_url=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1,mongo2/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - mongo_atnaUrl=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1,mongo2/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
-      - mongo2
+
     deploy:
       replicas: 2
 
@@ -207,9 +200,6 @@ services:
       - overlay_net
 
   mongo-on-update:
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
-      - mongo2
     environment:
       - REPLICAS=2
 
diff --git a/infrastructure/docker-compose.staging-deploy.yml b/infrastructure/docker-compose.staging-deploy.yml
index c658af0b3..3e4a1f121 100644
--- a/infrastructure/docker-compose.staging-deploy.yml
+++ b/infrastructure/docker-compose.staging-deploy.yml
@@ -145,8 +145,6 @@ services:
   hearth:
     environment:
       - mongodb__url=mongodb://hearth:${HEARTH_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/hearth-dev?replicaSet=rs0
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
     deploy:
       replicas: 1
 
@@ -158,15 +156,11 @@ services:
       - HEARTH_MONGO_URL=mongodb://hearth:${HEARTH_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/hearth-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - OPENHIM_MONGO_URL=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - WAIT_HOSTS=mongo1:27017,influxdb:8086,minio:9000,elasticsearch:9200
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
 
   openhim-core:
     environment:
       - mongo_url=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
       - mongo_atnaUrl=mongodb://openhim:${OPENHIM_MONGODB_PASSWORD}@mongo1/openhim-dev?replicaSet=rs0
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
     deploy:
       replicas: 1
 
@@ -175,8 +169,6 @@ services:
       replicas: 1
 
   mongo-on-update:
-    depends_on:
-      - mongo1
     environment:
       - REPLICAS=1
 
diff --git a/infrastructure/logrotate.conf b/infrastructure/logrotate.conf
index 91421677c..874c6af92 100644
--- a/infrastructure/logrotate.conf
+++ b/infrastructure/logrotate.conf
@@ -58,13 +58,6 @@ include /etc/logrotate.d
     rotate 1
 }
 
-/var/log/setup-deploy-config.log {
-    missingok
-    monthly
-    create 0660 root application
-    rotate 1
-}
-
 /var/log/rotate-secrets.log {
     missingok
     monthly
diff --git a/infrastructure/monitoring/elastalert/elastalert.yaml b/infrastructure/monitoring/elastalert/elastalert.yaml
index b74db9981..ac46c1463 100644
--- a/infrastructure/monitoring/elastalert/elastalert.yaml
+++ b/infrastructure/monitoring/elastalert/elastalert.yaml
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ buffer_time:
 
 es_host: elasticsearch
 es_port: 9200
-
 writeback_index: elastalert_status
 
 alert_time_limit:
diff --git a/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/setup-config.sh b/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/setup-config.sh
index 92e456d1d..38f439bd7 100755
--- a/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/setup-config.sh
+++ b/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/setup-config.sh
@@ -10,18 +10,28 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-# Define Docker command with the image and network
+# Define common variables
+kibana_alerting_api_url="http://kibana:5601/api/alerting/rules/_find?page=1&per_page=100&default_search_operator=AND&sort_field=name&sort_order=asc"
 docker_command="docker run --rm -v /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/config.ndjson:/config.ndjson --network=opencrvs_overlay_net curlimages/curl"
 
-# First delete all alerts. This is because the import doesn't remove alerts that are no longer in the config
-$docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD http://kibana:5601/api/alerting/rules/_find\?page\=1\&per_page\=100\&default_search_operator\=AND\&sort_field\=name\&sort_order\=asc | docker run --rm -i --network=opencrvs_overlay_net stedolan/jq -r '.data[].id' | while read -r id; do
+# Initial API status check to ensure Kibana is ready
+status_code=$($docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "$kibana_alerting_api_url")
+
+if [ "$status_code" -ne 200 ]; then
+  echo "Kibana is not ready. API returned status code: $status_code"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Delete all alerts
+$docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD "$kibana_alerting_api_url" | docker run --rm -i --network=opencrvs_overlay_net stedolan/jq -r '.data[].id' | while read -r id; do
   $docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -X DELETE -H 'kbn-xsrf: true' -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD "http://kibana:5601/api/alerting/rule/$id"
 done
 
-$docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD -X POST http://kibana:5601/api/saved_objects/_import?overwrite=true -H 'kbn-xsrf: true' --form file=@/config.ndjson > /dev/null
+# Import configuration
+$docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD -X POST "http://kibana:5601/api/saved_objects/_import?overwrite=true" -H 'kbn-xsrf: true' --form file=@/config.ndjson > /dev/null
 
-# Re-enable all alerts. This is because after importing a config, all alerts are disabled by default
-$docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD http://kibana:5601/api/alerting/rules/_find\?page\=1\&per_page\=100\&default_search_operator\=AND\&sort_field\=name\&sort_order\=asc | docker run --rm -i --network=opencrvs_overlay_net stedolan/jq -r '.data[].id' | while read -r id; do
+# Re-enable all alerts
+$docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD "$kibana_alerting_api_url" | docker run --rm -i --network=opencrvs_overlay_net stedolan/jq -r '.data[].id' | while read -r id; do
   $docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -X POST -H 'kbn-xsrf: true' -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD "http://kibana:5601/api/alerting/rule/$id/_disable"
   $docker_command --connect-timeout 60 -X POST -H 'kbn-xsrf: true' -u elastic:$ELASTICSEARCH_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD "http://kibana:5601/api/alerting/rule/$id/_enable"
-done
\ No newline at end of file
+done
diff --git a/infrastructure/server-setup/backups.yml b/infrastructure/server-setup/backups.yml
index ca6b9d31f..fa8c4ff0a 100644
--- a/infrastructure/server-setup/backups.yml
+++ b/infrastructure/server-setup/backups.yml
@@ -87,6 +87,16 @@
   vars:
     manager_hostname: "{{ groups['docker-manager-first'][0] }}"
   tasks:
+    - name: Ensure backup user is present
+      user:
+        name: '{{ external_backup_server_user }}'
+        state: present
+        create_home: true
+        home: '/home/{{ external_backup_server_user }}'
+        shell: /bin/bash
+      tags:
+        - backups
+
     - set_fact:
         external_backup_server_user_home: '/home/{{ external_backup_server_user }}'
       tags:
diff --git a/infrastructure/server-setup/tasks/application.yml b/infrastructure/server-setup/tasks/application.yml
index f5ca9b2ed..4d70e66b4 100644
--- a/infrastructure/server-setup/tasks/application.yml
+++ b/infrastructure/server-setup/tasks/application.yml
@@ -33,14 +33,6 @@
     groups: application
     append: yes
 
-- name: Create deploy logfile
-  ansible.builtin.file:
-    path: /var/log/setup-deploy-config.log
-    owner: '{{ ansible_user }}'
-    group: 'application'
-    state: touch
-    mode: 'u+rwX,g+rwX,o-rwx'
-
 - name: Create secret logfile
   ansible.builtin.file:
     path: /var/log/rotate-secrets.log
diff --git a/infrastructure/setup-deploy-config.sh b/infrastructure/setup-deploy-config.sh
index 6ce09263d..111956993 100755
--- a/infrastructure/setup-deploy-config.sh
+++ b/infrastructure/setup-deploy-config.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ echo "Setting up deployment config for $HOST - `date --iso-8601=ns`"
 # Set hostname in openhim-console config
 sed -i "s/{{hostname}}/$HOST/g" /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/openhim-console-config.deploy.json
 
-
 # Set hostname in compose file
 for file in /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/docker-compose*.yml; do
     sed -i "s/{{hostname}}/$HOST/g" "$file"
@@ -26,19 +25,6 @@ done
 KIBANA_ENCRYPTION_KEY=`uuidgen`
 sed -i "s/{{KIBANA_ENCRYPTION_KEY}}/$KIBANA_ENCRYPTION_KEY/g" /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/monitoring/kibana/kibana.yml
 
-# Move metabase file
-mv /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/metabase.init.db.sql /data/metabase/metabase.init.db.sql
-
-# Replace environment variables from all alert definition files
-for file in /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/monitoring/elastalert/rules/*.yaml; do
-    sed -i -e "s%{{HOST}}%$1%" $file
-    sed -i -e "s%{{SMTP_HOST}}%$SMTP_HOST%" $file
-    sed -i -e "s%{{SMTP_PORT}}%$SMTP_PORT%" $file
-    sed -i -e "s%{{ALERT_EMAIL}}%$ALERT_EMAIL%" $file
-    sed -i -e "s%{{SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS}}%$SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS%" $file
-    sed -i -e "s%{{DOMAIN}}%$DOMAIN%" $file
-done
-
 sed -i -e "s%{{MINIO_ROOT_USER}}%$MINIO_ROOT_USER%" /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/mc-config/config.json
 sed -i -e "s%{{MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD}}%$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD%" /opt/opencrvs/infrastructure/mc-config/config.json
 
diff --git a/src/api/notification/email-service.ts b/src/api/notification/email-service.ts
index 241a1c0cf..fdc09c682 100644
--- a/src/api/notification/email-service.ts
+++ b/src/api/notification/email-service.ts
@@ -29,12 +29,32 @@ export const sendEmail = async (params: {
   from: string
   to: string
 }) => {
-  if (params.to.endsWith('@example.com')) {
-    logger.info(`Example email detected: ${params.to}. Not sending the email.`)
+  const replaceVariables = (text: string) =>
+    Handlebars.compile(text)({
+      /*
+       * Any handlebar variable that is used in the email template
+       * should be defined here.
+       */
+      DOMAIN: DOMAIN,
+      ALERT_EMAIL: ALERT_EMAIL,
+      SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS: SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS
+    })
+
+  const formattedParams = {
+    from: replaceVariables(params.from),
+    to: replaceVariables(params.to),
+    subject: replaceVariables(params.subject),
+    html: replaceVariables(params.html)
+  }
+
+  if (formattedParams.to.endsWith('@example.com')) {
+    logger.info(
+      `Example email detected: ${formattedParams.to}. Not sending the email.`
+    )
     return
   }
 
-  logger.info(`Sending email to ${params.to}`)
+  logger.info(`Sending email to ${formattedParams.to}`)
 
   const emailTransport = nodemailer.createTransport({
     host: SMTP_HOST,
@@ -46,26 +66,12 @@ export const sendEmail = async (params: {
     }
   })
 
-  const replaceVariables = (text: string) =>
-    Handlebars.compile(text)({
-      /*
-       * Any handlebar variable that is used in the email template
-       * should be defined here.
-       */
-      DOMAIN: DOMAIN,
-      ALERT_EMAIL: ALERT_EMAIL,
-      SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS: SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS
-    })
-
   try {
-    await emailTransport.sendMail({
-      from: replaceVariables(params.from),
-      to: replaceVariables(params.to),
-      subject: replaceVariables(params.subject),
-      html: replaceVariables(params.html)
-    })
+    await emailTransport.sendMail(formattedParams)
   } catch (error) {
-    logger.error(`Unable to send email to ${params.to} for error : ${error}`)
+    logger.error(
+      `Unable to send email to ${formattedParams.to} for error : ${error}`
+    )
 
     if (error.response) {
       logger.error(error.response.body)