diff --git a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler.java b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler.java
index 232f3acc..6bce6407 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import monasca.persister.repository.Repo;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 public class AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler extends
     FlushableHandler<AlarmStateTransitionedEvent> {
 
@@ -61,10 +63,10 @@ public class AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler extends
   }
 
   @Override
-  protected int process(String msg) throws Exception {
+  protected int process(String msg) throws IOException {
 
     AlarmStateTransitionedEvent alarmStateTransitionedEvent =
-                  objectMapper.readValue(msg, AlarmStateTransitionedEvent.class);
+                  this.objectMapper.readValue(msg, AlarmStateTransitionedEvent.class);
 
     logger.debug("[{}]: [{}:{}] {}",
                  this.threadId,
@@ -72,7 +74,7 @@ public class AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler extends
                  this.getMsgCount(),
                  alarmStateTransitionedEvent);
 
-    alarmRepo.addToBatch(alarmStateTransitionedEvent);
+    this.alarmRepo.addToBatch(alarmStateTransitionedEvent);
 
     this.alarmStateTransitionCounter.inc();
 
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ public class AlarmStateTransitionedEventHandler extends
   @Override
   protected int flushRepository() throws Exception {
 
-    return alarmRepo.flush(this.threadId);
+    return this.alarmRepo.flush(this.threadId);
 
   }
 }
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/FlushableHandler.java b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/FlushableHandler.java
index 0f696367..f081b37d 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/FlushableHandler.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/FlushableHandler.java
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ import io.dropwizard.setup.Environment;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 public abstract class FlushableHandler<T> {
 
   private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(FlushableHandler.class);
@@ -88,7 +90,7 @@ public abstract class FlushableHandler<T> {
 
   protected abstract int flushRepository() throws Exception;
 
-  protected abstract int process(String msg) throws Exception;
+  protected abstract int process(String msg) throws IOException;
 
   public boolean onEvent(final String msg) throws Exception {
 
@@ -124,7 +126,7 @@ public abstract class FlushableHandler<T> {
     }
   }
 
-  private boolean isBatchSize() throws Exception {
+  private boolean isBatchSize() {
 
     logger.debug("[{}]: checking batch size", this.threadId);
 
@@ -136,19 +138,21 @@ public abstract class FlushableHandler<T> {
 
     } else {
 
+      logger.debug("[{}]: batch size now at {}, batch size {} not attained",
+                   this.threadId,
+                   this.msgCount,
+                   this.batchSize);
+
       return false;
 
     }
   }
 
-  private boolean isFlushTime() throws Exception {
+  private boolean isFlushTime() {
 
-    logger.debug("[{}}: checking flush time", this.threadId);
-
-    logger.debug(
-        "[{}]: got heartbeat message, flush every {} seconds.",
-        this.threadId,
-        this.secondsBetweenFlushes);
+    logger.debug("[{}}: got heartbeat message, checking flush time. flush every {} seconds.",
+                 this.threadId,
+                 this.secondsBetweenFlushes);
 
     long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
 
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/MetricHandler.java b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/MetricHandler.java
index 724a6812..03fe38c7 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/MetricHandler.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/pipeline/event/MetricHandler.java
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 
 package monasca.persister.pipeline.event;
 
+import monasca.common.model.metric.MetricEnvelope;
+import monasca.persister.configuration.PipelineConfig;
+import monasca.persister.repository.Repo;
+
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted;
 
@@ -27,10 +31,9 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.PropertyNamingStrategy;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 import io.dropwizard.setup.Environment;
-import monasca.common.model.metric.MetricEnvelope;
-import monasca.persister.configuration.PipelineConfig;
-import monasca.persister.repository.Repo;
 
 public class MetricHandler extends FlushableHandler<MetricEnvelope[]> {
 
@@ -60,10 +63,10 @@ public class MetricHandler extends FlushableHandler<MetricEnvelope[]> {
   }
 
   @Override
-  public int process(String msg) throws Exception {
+  public int process(String msg) throws IOException {
 
     MetricEnvelope[] metricEnvelopesArry =
-        objectMapper.readValue(msg, MetricEnvelope[].class);
+        this.objectMapper.readValue(msg, MetricEnvelope[].class);
 
     for (final MetricEnvelope metricEnvelope : metricEnvelopesArry) {
 
@@ -103,7 +106,7 @@ public class MetricHandler extends FlushableHandler<MetricEnvelope[]> {
   @Override
   public int flushRepository() throws Exception {
 
-    return metricRepo.flush(this.threadId);
+    return this.metricRepo.flush(this.threadId);
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxPoint.java b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxPoint.java
index 4e4d2009..ecd9f8ab 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxPoint.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxPoint.java
@@ -26,8 +26,12 @@ public class InfluxPoint {
   private final String timestamp;
   private final Map<String, Object> fields;
 
-  public InfluxPoint(final String name, final Map<String, String> tags, final String timestamp,
-                     final Map<String, Object> fields) {
+  public InfluxPoint(
+      final String name,
+      final Map<String, String> tags,
+      final String timestamp,
+      final Map<String, Object> fields) {
+
     this.name = name;
     this.tags = tags;
     this.timestamp = timestamp;
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxRepo.java b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxRepo.java
index 0fac45ce..059ea9c1 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxRepo.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/repository/influxdb/InfluxRepo.java
@@ -59,17 +59,17 @@ public abstract class InfluxRepo<T> implements Repo<T> {
 
     try {
 
-      final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
-
       final Timer.Context context = flushTimer.time();
 
+      final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
       int msgWriteCnt = write(id);
 
       final long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
 
       context.stop();
 
-      logger.debug("[{}]: flushing batch took {} millis", id, endTime - startTime);
+      logger.debug("[{}]: writing to influxdb took {} millis", id, endTime - startTime);
 
       clearBuffers();
 
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ public abstract class InfluxRepo<T> implements Repo<T> {
 
     } catch (Exception e) {
 
-      logger.error("[{}]: failed to write msg to influxdb", id, e);
+      logger.error("[{}]: failed to write to influxdb", id, e);
 
       throw e;