diff --git a/config/config.sample.php b/config/config.sample.php
deleted file mode 100644
index 13bb96e..0000000
--- a/config/config.sample.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-/**
- * Main config file for digital strategy report generator
- * Copy this file to config.php and edit as needed for your installation
- */
-
-//base dir for includes, leave at default for same directory as this file`
-define( 'DGS_BASE_DIR', dirname( __FILE__ ) ); 
-
-//directory where reports will reside afer generation, FALSE to delete after sending to user
-define( 'DGS_REPORT_DIR', FALSE );
-
-//base url for schema, change to false to use local information only
-define( 'DGS_SCHEMA_BASE', 'https://raw.github.com/GSA/digital-strategy/1/' ); 
-
-//TTL of disk / in-memory cache ( default is 1 hour )
-define( 'DGS_TTL', 3600 ); 
-
-//that's it!
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/includes/build-agencies.php b/includes/build-agencies.php
index b10eb19..1c72b1a 100644
--- a/includes/build-agencies.php
+++ b/includes/build-agencies.php
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 require_once 'config/agencies.php';
 require_once 'load.php';
 
+//sort agencies by name alpha ascending
+dgs_sort( $dgs_agencies, 'name' );
+
 //output JSON
 file_put_contents( DGS_BASE_DIR . '/data/agencies.json', json_encode( $dgs_agencies ) );
 
diff --git a/includes/build-items.php b/includes/build-items.php
index 5913d35..c150c7f 100644
--- a/includes/build-items.php
+++ b/includes/build-items.php
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 require_once 'config/items.php';
 require_once 'load.php';
 
+//sort action items by ID ascending
+dgs_sort( $dgs_items );
+
 //JSON encode the action items array into the json file
 file_put_contents( DGS_BASE_DIR .'/data/items.json', json_encode( $dgs_items ) );
 
diff --git a/includes/functions.php b/includes/functions.php
index 23d5098..a2df2d1 100644
--- a/includes/functions.php
+++ b/includes/functions.php
@@ -344,9 +344,18 @@ function dgs_max_values( $item, $import ) {
 	return $max;
 	
 }
-function dgs_sort(&$items) {
-  foreach ($items as $obj) {
-    $order[$obj->id] = $obj;
-  }
-  array_multisort($order, SORT_ASC, $items);
+
+/**
+ * Helper function to sort items and agencies before generating
+ * @param array $items array of agency objects
+ * @param string $field field to sort by (optional, default ID)
+ * @param int $dir sort direction, either SORT_ASC or SORT_DESC (optional, default ASC)
+ */
+function dgs_sort( &$items, $field = 'id' , $dir = SORT_ASC ) {
+
+	foreach ($items as $obj)
+    	$order[ $obj->$field ] = $obj;
+
+    array_multisort( $order, $dir, $items );
+    
 }
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 56eed40..fdc87eb 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 
 //output header
 dgs_header();
-dgs_sort($dgs_items);
 ?>
 
 <h1>Slash Digital Strategy Generator</h1>
diff --git a/load.php b/load.php
index f0acbdc..3dccfd8 100644
--- a/load.php
+++ b/load.php
@@ -34,25 +34,26 @@
 	// (3) Local /data/ directory, for non-expired cached files
 	// (4) GSA GitHub Repo
 	// (5) /config/ directory
+	// Note: change DGS_SCHEMA_BASE to FALSE and DGS_TTL to 0 in config.php to force local refresh
 
 	//look for global var already established, no need to re-parse
 	if ( isset( $$global_var ) )
 		continue;
 
 	//check APC Cache, if it's installed
-	if ( DGS_REPORT_DIR && function_exists( 'apc_fetch' ) && $cache = apc_fetch ( $global_var ) ) {
+	if ( function_exists( 'apc_fetch' ) && $cache = apc_fetch ( $global_var ) ) {
 		$$global_var = $cache->$plural;
 		continue;
 	}
 
 	//look for /data/ files and parse (disk cache)
-	if ( DGS_REPORT_DIR && $file = dgs_get_disk_cache( $plural ) ) {
+	if ( $file = dgs_get_disk_cache( $plural ) ) {
 		$$global_var = $file->$plural;
 		continue;
 	}
 
 	//try GitHub (mmm... dogfood)
-	if ( DGS_REPORT_DIR && $file = dgs_get_live( $plural ) ) {
+	if ( DGS_SCHEMA_BASE && $file = dgs_get_live( $plural ) ) {
 		$$global_var = $file->$plural;
 		continue;
 	}