diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 53ba6711..c7b0690c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,6 +46,14 @@ The Mentor building block enables effective mentoring interactions between mento
 </div>
 <br>
 
+## System Requirements
+
+-   **Operating System:** Ubuntu 22
+-   **Node.js:** v20
+-   **PostgreSQL:** 16
+-   **Citus:** 12.1
+-   **Apache Kafka:** 3.5.0
+
 # Setup Options
 
 Elevate user services can be set in local using two methods:
@@ -129,150 +137,517 @@ Elevate user services can be set in local using two methods:
 
 </details>
 
-<details><summary>Local Service with local dependencies(Hardest)</summary>
+<details>
+
+<summary>Local Service with local dependencies(Hardest)</summary>
 
 **Expectation**: Run single service with existing local dependencies in host (**Non-Docker Implementation**).
 
-### Steps
+## Installations
+
+### Install Node.js LTS
+
+Refer to the [NodeSource distributions installation scripts](https://github.com/nodesource/distributions#installation-scripts) for Node.js installation.
 
-1. Install required tools & dependencies
+```bash
+$ curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash - &&\
+sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
+```
 
-    Install any IDE (eg: VScode)
+### Install Build Essential
 
-    Install Nodejs: https://nodejs.org/en/download/
+```bash
+$ sudo apt-get install build-essential
+```
 
-    Install MongoDB: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/installation/
+### Install Kafka
 
-    Install Robo-3T: ​​ https://robomongo.org/
+Refer to [Kafka Ubuntu 22.04 setup guide](https://www.fosstechnix.com/install-apache-kafka-on-ubuntu-22-04-lts/)
 
-2. Clone the **User service** repository.
+1. Install OpenJDK 11:
 
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk
     ```
-    git clone https://github.com/ELEVATE-Project/user.git
+
+2. Download and extract Kafka:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo wget https://downloads.apache.org/kafka/3.5.0/kafka_2.12-3.5.0.tgz
+    $ sudo tar xzf kafka_2.12-3.5.0.tgz
+    $ sudo mv kafka_2.12-3.5.0 /opt/kafka
     ```
 
-3. Add **.env** file to the project directory
+3. Configure Zookeeper:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/zookeeper.service
+    ```
+
+    Paste the following lines into the `zookeeper.service` file:
+
+    ```ini
+    /etc/systemd/system/zookeeper.service
+    [Unit]
+    Description=Apache Zookeeper service
+    Documentation=http://zookeeper.apache.org
+    Requires=network.target remote-fs.target
+    After=network.target remote-fs.target
 
-    Create a **.env** file in **src** directory of the project and copy these environment variables into it.
+    [Service]
+    Type=simple
+    ExecStart=/opt/kafka/bin/zookeeper-server-start.sh /opt/kafka/config/zookeeper.properties
+    ExecStop=/opt/kafka/bin/zookeeper-server-stop.sh
+    Restart=on-abnormal
 
+    [Install]
+    WantedBy=multi-user.target
     ```
-    #User Service Config
 
-    # Port on which service runs
-    APPLICATION_PORT = 3000
+    Save and exit.
 
-    # Service environment
-    APPLICATION_ENV = development
+4. Reload systemd:
 
-    # Database connectivity url
-    DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/elevate-user
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
+    ```
 
-    # Token secret to generate access token
-    ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET = 'access-token-secret'
+5. Configure Kafka:
 
-    # Token secret to generate refresh token
-    REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET = 'refresh-token-secret'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/kafka.service
+    ```
 
-    # Kafka hosted server url
-    KAFKA_URL = localhost:9092
+    Paste the following lines into the `kafka.service` file:
 
-    # Kafka group to which consumer belongs
-    KAFKA_GROUP_ID = userservice
+    ```ini
+    [Unit]
+    Description=Apache Kafka Service
+    Documentation=http://kafka.apache.org/documentation.html
+    Requires=zookeeper.service
 
-    # Kafka topic to consume data from
-    KAFKA_TOPIC = 'topic'
+    [Service]
+    Type=simple
+    Environment="JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64"
+    ExecStart=/opt/kafka/bin/kafka-server-start.sh /opt/kafka/config/server.properties
+    ExecStop=/opt/kafka/bin/kafka-server-stop.sh
 
-    # Kafka topic to push notification data
-    NOTIFICATION_KAFKA_TOPIC = notificationtopic
+    [Install]
+    WantedBy=multi-user.target
+    ```
 
-    # Any one of three features available for cloud storage
-    CLOUD_STORAGE = 'GCP/AWS/AZURE'
+    Save and exit.
 
-    # Gcp json config file path
-    GCP_PATH = 'gcp.json'
+6. Reload systemd:
 
-    # Gcp bucket name which stores files
-    DEFAULT_GCP_BUCKET_NAME = 'gcp-bucket-storage-name'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
+    ```
 
-    # Gcp project id
-    GCP_PROJECT_ID = 'project-id'
+7. Start Zookeeper:
 
-    # Aws access key id
-    AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = 'aws-access-key-id'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl start zookeeper
+    ```
 
-    # Aws secret access key
-    AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = 'aws-secret-access-key'
+    Check status:
 
-    # Aws region where bucket will be located
-    AWS_BUCKET_REGION = 'ap-south-1'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl status zookeeper
+    ```
 
-    # Aws end point
-    AWS_BUCKET_ENDPOINT = 's3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com'
+    Zookeeper service status should be shown as active (running).
 
-    # Aws bucket name which stores files
-    DEFAULT_AWS_BUCKET_NAME = 'aws-bucket-storage-name'
+8. Start Kafka:
 
-    # Azure storage account name
-    AZURE_ACCOUNT_NAME = 'account-name'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl start kafka
+    ```
 
-    # Azure storage account key
-    AZURE_ACCOUNT_KEY = 'azure-account-key'
+    Check status:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl status kafka
+    ```
 
-    # Azure storage container which stores files
-    DEFAULT_AZURE_CONTAINER_NAME = 'azure-container-storage-name'
+    Kafka status should be shown as active (running).
 
-    # Internal access token for communication between services via network call
-    INTERNAL_ACCESS_TOKEN = 'internal-access-token'
+### Install Redis
+
+Refer to [Redis Ubuntu 22.04 setup guide](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-secure-redis-on-ubuntu-22-04)
+
+1. Update the package list:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo apt update
+    ```
 
+2. Install Redis:
 
-    #Enable logging of network request
-    ENABLE_LOG = true
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo apt install redis-server
+    ```
 
-    # JWT Access Token expiry In Days
-    ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY = '1'
+3. Configure Redis for systemd:
 
-    # JWT Refresh Token expiry In Days
-    REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY = '183'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo nano /etc/redis/redis.conf
+    ```
 
-    # Redis Host connectivity url
-    REDIS_HOST = 'redis://localhost:6379'
+    Find the `supervised` directive and change it to "systemd" as follows:
+
+    ```conf
+    . . .
+    # If you run Redis from upstart or systemd, Redis can interact with your
+    # supervision tree. Options:
+    #   supervised no      - no supervision interaction
+    #   supervised upstart - signal upstart by putting Redis into SIGSTOP mode
+    #   supervised systemd - signal systemd by writing READY=1 to $NOTIFY_SOCKET
+    #   supervised auto    - detect upstart or systemd method based on
+    #                        UPSTART_JOB or NOTIFY_SOCKET environment variables
+    # Note: these supervision methods only signal "process is ready."
+    #       They do not enable continuous liveness pings back to your supervisor.
+    supervised systemd
+    . . .
+    ```
 
-    # Otp expiration time for forgetpassword or registration process
-    OTP_EXP_TIME = 86400
+    Save and exit.
 
-    # Enable email based otp verification for registration process
-    ENABLE_EMAIL_OTP_VERIFICATION = true
+4. Restart the Redis service:
 
-    # Api doc url
-    API_DOC_URL = '/api-doc'
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo systemctl restart redis.service
     ```
 
-4. Start MongoDB locally
+### Install Single-Node Citus (Distributed Database)
 
-    Based on your host operating system and method used, start MongoDB.
+Refer to [official Citus single-node setup](https://docs.citusdata.com/en/stable/installation/single_node_debian.html)
 
-5. Install Npm packages
+1. Download and install Citus:
 
+    ```bash
+    $ curl https://install.citusdata.com/community/deb.sh | sudo bash
+    $ sudo apt-get -y install postgresql-16-citus-12.1
     ```
-    ELEVATE/user/src$ npm install
+
+2. Switch to the PostgreSQL user:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ sudo su - postgres
     ```
 
-6. Start User server
+3. Set the PostgreSQL bin directory in the PATH and create a directory for Citus:
 
+    ```bash
+    $ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/postgresql/16/bin
+    $ cd ~
+    $ mkdir citus
     ```
-    ELEVATE/user/src$ npm start
+
+4. Initialize the Citus database:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ initdb -D citus
     ```
 
-</details>
-<br>
+5. Configure Citus in `citus/postgresql.conf`:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ echo "shared_preload_libraries = 'citus'" >> citus/postgresql.conf
+    ```
+
+6. Start the Citus server:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ pg_ctl -D citus -o "-p 9700" -l citus_logfile start
+    ```
+
+7. Create the Citus extension:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ psql -p 9700 -c "CREATE EXTENSION citus;"
+    ```
+
+8. Check the Citus version:
+
+    ```bash
+    $ psql -p 9700 -c "select citus_version();"
+    ```
+
+    You should see an output similar to the following, indicating that Citus is successfully installed:
+
+    ```sql
+    postgres=# select citus_version();
+                                           citus_version
+    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+     Citus 12.1.1 on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.2) 9.4.0, 64-bit
+    (1 row)
+    ```
+
+### Install PM2
+
+Refer to [How To Set Up a Node.js Application for Production on Ubuntu 22.04](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-a-node-js-application-for-production-on-ubuntu-22-04).
+
+**Exit the postgres user account and run the following command**
+
+```bash
+$ sudo npm install pm2@latest -g
+```
+
+## Setting up Repository
+
+### Clone the user repository to /opt/backend directory
+
+```bash
+opt/backend$ git clone -b develop-2.5 --single-branch "https://github.com/ELEVATE-Project/user.git"
+```
+
+### Install Npm packages from src directory
+
+```bash
+backend/user/src$ sudo npm i
+```
+
+### Create .env file in src directory
+
+```bash
+user/src$ sudo nano .env
+```
+
+Copy-paste the following env variables to the `.env` file:
+
+NB : Make sure to update the credentials according to your configurations.
+
+```env
+ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY= 10
+ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET= asadsd8as7df9as8df987asdf
+ADMIN_INVITEE_UPLOAD_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= invitee_upload_status
+ADMIN_SECRET_CODE= Na7ad23ws5cm3kfmw24dmdsflaksd
+API_DOC_URL=/user/api-doc
+APPLICATION_ENV=development
+APPLICATION_PORT=3001
+APP_NAME=MentorED
+
+AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID= "adsfg98a7sdfg"
+AWS_BUCKET_ENDPOINT="s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com"
+AWS_BUCKET_REGION="ap-south-1"
+AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="asd9786fg9a8sd/asdfg9a8sd7fg"
+
+
+AZURE_ACCOUNT_KEY=asd897gfa09sd87f09as8d
+AZURE_ACCOUNT_NAME=mentoring
+CLEAR_INTERNAL_CACHE=userinternal
+CLOUD_STORAGE= GCP
+DEFAULT_AWS_BUCKET_NAME=mentoring-dev-storage
+DEFAULT_AZURE_CONTAINER_NAME=mentoring-images
+DEFAULT_GCP_BUCKET_NAME=mentoring-dev-storage
+
+DEFAULT_ORGANISATION_CODE= default_code
+DEFAULT_ORG_ID= 1
+DEFAULT_QUEUE= user-queue
+DEFAULT_ROLE= mentee
+DEV_DATABASE_URL= postgres://shikshalokam:slpassword123@localhost:9700/elevate_user
+DISABLE_LOG= false
+EMAIL_ID_ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM= aes-256-cbc
+EMAIL_ID_ENCRYPTION_IV= a19f1ewaqwei9e03edkc32e
+EMAIL_ID_ENCRYPTION_KEY= 9bszawjkckw2e3dm35fcw27ws4ed5rftg6y6y7y7654tf4rwq5tr0ol2qa9owsie
+ENABLE_EMAIL_OTP_VERIFICATION=true
+ENABLE_LOG=true
+ERROR_LOG_LEVEL=silly
+EVENT_ENABLE_ORG_EVENTS=true
+EVENT_ORG_LISTENER_URLS=http://localhost:3567/mentoring/v1/organization/eventListener
+GCP_PATH=gcp.json
+GCP_PROJECT_ID=sl-dev-project
+GENERIC_INVITATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE=generic_invite
+INTERNAL_ACCESS_TOKEN= Fqdkfaswekdlwe
+INTERNAL_CACHE_EXP_TIME= 86400
+INVITEE_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= invite_user
+IV= LKYTTAqkajswiawqw/Z==
+KAFKA_GROUP_ID=dev.users
+KAFKA_TOPIC= dev.topic
+KAFKA_URL= localhost:9092
+KEY= W/m2cr/aMswjrdsa23sgfy5e34d+bKcbAWZSLjJP2qY=
+MENTEE_INVITATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= invite_mentee
+MENTORING_SERVICE_URL= http://localhost:3000
+MENTOR_INVITATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= invite_mentor
+MENTOR_REQUEST_ACCEPTED_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= mentor_request_accepted
+MENTOR_REQUEST_REJECTED_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= mentor_request_rejected
+MENTOR_SECRET_CODE=4567
+NOTIFICATION_KAFKA_TOPIC=dev.notification
+ORG_ADMIN_INVITATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= invite_org_admin
+OTP_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= emailotp
+OTP_EXP_TIME= 86400
+PORTAL_URL= "https://dev.elevate-mentoring.shikshalokam.org/auth/login"
+RATING_KAFKA_TOPIC= dev.mentor_rating
+REDIS_HOST= redis://localhost:6379
+REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY= 183
+REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=371hkjadidy2ashiKAkajshdkid23iuekw71yekiaskdvkvegxvy23t78veQwexqviveit6ttZyeeytx62tx236uv
+REFRESH_VIEW_INTERVAL=30000
+REGISTRATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= registration
+REGISTRATION_OTP_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_CODE= registrationotp
+SALT_ROUNDS= 10
+SAMPLE_CSV_FILE_PATH= sample/bulk_user_creation.csv
+SCHEDULER_SERVICE_BASE_URL= /scheduler/
+SCHEDULER_SERVICE_ERROR_REPORTING_EMAIL_ID= rakesh.k@pacewisdom.com
+SCHEDULER_SERVICE_HOST= http://localhost:3567
+SCHEDULER_SERVICE_URL= http://localhost:3567/jobs/scheduleJob
+created_time= 2024-02-08T07:40:04.571464939Z
+custom_metadata= null
+destroyed= false
+version= 31
+
+```
+
+Save and exit.
 
-# Tech stack
+## Setting up Databases
 
--   Node - 16.0.0
--   Kafka - 3.1.0
--   Jest - 28.1.1
--   MongoDB - 4.1.4
--   Redis - 7.0.0
+**Log into the postgres user**
+
+```bash
+sudo su postgres
+```
+
+**Log into psql**
+
+```bash
+psql -p 9700
+```
+
+**Create a database user/role:**
+
+```sql
+CREATE USER shikshalokam WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'slpassword';
+```
+
+**Create the elevate_user database**
+
+```sql
+CREATE DATABASE elevate_user;
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE elevate_user TO shikshalokam;
+\c elevate_user
+GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO shikshalokam;
+```
+
+## Running Migrations To Create Tables
+
+**Exit the postgres user account and install sequelize-cli globally**
+
+```bash
+$ sudo npm i sequelize-cli -g
+```
+
+**Navigate to the src folder of user service and run sequelize-cli migration command:**
+
+```bash
+user/src$ npx sequelize-cli db:migrate
+```
+
+**Now all the tables must be available in the Citus databases**
+
+## Setting up Distribution Columns in Citus PostgreSQL Database
+
+Refer [Choosing Distribution Column](https://docs.citusdata.com/en/stable/sharding/data_modeling.html) for more information regarding Citus distribution columns.
+
+**Login into the postgres user**
+
+```bash
+sudo su postgres
+```
+
+**Login to psql**
+
+```bash
+psql -p 9700
+```
+
+**Login to the elevate_user database**
+
+```sql
+\c elevate_user
+```
+
+**Enable Citus for elevate_user**
+
+```sql
+CREATE EXTENSION citus;
+```
+
+**Within elevate_user, run the following queries:**
+
+```sql
+SELECT create_distributed_table('entities', 'entity_type_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('entity_types', 'organization_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('file_uploads', 'organization_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('forms', 'organization_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('notification_templates', 'organization_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('organizations', 'id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('organization_codes', 'code');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('organization_domains', 'domain');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('organization_role_requests','organization_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('organization_user_invites','organization_id');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('users_credentials','email');
+SELECT create_distributed_table('users', 'organization_id');
+```
+
+## Running Seeder to Populate the Tables with Seed Data
+
+**Exit the postgres user navigate to the script folder of the user service**
+
+**Run the insertDefaultOrg.js script**
+
+```bash
+src/scripts$ node insertDefaultOrg.js
+```
+
+_Keep note of the default organization id generated by the script_
+
+**Navigate to the src folder of the user service and update the .env file with these variables:**
+
+```env
+DEFAULT_ORG_ID=<id generated by the insertDefaultOrg script>
+DEFAULT_ORGANISATION_CODE=default_code
+```
+
+**Run the seeder command**
+
+```bash
+src$ npm run db:seed:all
+```
+
+## Start the Service
+
+Run pm2 start command:
+
+```bash
+user/src$ pm2 start app.js -i 2 --name elevate-user
+```
+
+#### Run pm2 ls command
+
+```bash
+$ pm2 ls
+```
+
+Output should look like this (Sample output, might slightly differ in your installation):
+
+```bash
+┌────┬─────────────────────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
+│ id │ name                    │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
+├────┼─────────────────────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
+│ 1  │ elevate-user            │ default     │ 1.0.0   │ cluster │ 106976   │ 27h    │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 167.0mb  │ jenkins  │ disabled │
+│ 2  │ elevate-user            │ default     │ 1.0.0   │ cluster │ 106986   │ 27h    │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 169.3mb  │ jenkins  │ disabled │
+└────┴─────────────────────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
+```
+
+This concludes the services and dependency setup.
+
+## Postman Collections
+
+-   [User Service](https://github.com/ELEVATE-Project/user/tree/develop-2.5/src/api-doc)
+
+</details>
+<br>
 
 # Migrations Commands