diff --git a/salary/Dockerfile b/salary/Dockerfile
index 9d77e69..f8ac776 100644
--- a/salary/Dockerfile
+++ b/salary/Dockerfile
@@ -1,18 +1,25 @@
-FROM maven:latest as builder
-MAINTAINER Opstree Solutions
-WORKDIR /java/
-COPY pom.xml /java/
-COPY src /java/src/
+# Stage 1: Build the application using Maven and Java 17
+FROM maven:3.8.8-eclipse-temurin-17 AS builder
+LABEL maintainer="Opstree Solutions"
+
+WORKDIR /java
+COPY pom.xml .
+COPY src ./src
+
 RUN mvn clean package
 
-FROM alpine:latest
-MAINTAINER Opstree Solutions
-USER root
-RUN apk update && \
-    apk add openjdk17
+# Stage 2: Run the application with a minimal runtime image
+FROM eclipse-temurin:17-jdk-alpine
+LABEL maintainer="Opstree Solutions"
+
+WORKDIR /app
 
 COPY --from=builder /java/target/salary-0.3.0-RELEASE.jar /app/salary.jar
-COPY ./config.yaml /root/config/config.yaml
-ENV CONFIG_FILE "/root/config/config.yaml"
+COPY ./config.yaml /app/config/config.yaml
+ENV CONFIG_FILE=/app/config/config.yaml
+
+# Expose the app port
 EXPOSE 8080
-ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/java", "-jar", "/app/salary.jar"]
+
+# Run the Spring Boot app
+ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "/app/salary.jar"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/salary/pom.xml b/salary/pom.xml
index fe3465b..4c3b636 100644
--- a/salary/pom.xml
+++ b/salary/pom.xml
@@ -1,34 +1,27 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
         <version>2.7.4</version>
-        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
+        <relativePath/>
     </parent>
+
     <groupId>com.opstree.microservice</groupId>
     <artifactId>salary</artifactId>
     <version>0.3.0-RELEASE</version>
     <name>salary</name>
     <description>Salary Microservice</description>
-    <reporting>
-        <plugins>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
-                <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <reportSets>
-                    <reportSet>
-                        <reports>
-                            <!-- select non-aggregate reports -->
-                            <report>report</report>
-                        </reports>
-                    </reportSet>
-                </reportSets>
-            </plugin>
-        </plugins>
-    </reporting>
+
+    <properties>
+        <java.version>17</java.version>
+    </properties>
+
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
@@ -78,15 +71,42 @@
 
     <build>
         <plugins>
+            <!-- Spring Boot Plugin for fat JAR -->
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                 <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
             </plugin>
 
+            <!-- Java compiler plugin with version -->
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>3.8.1</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <source>17</source>
+                    <target>17</target>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+
+            <!-- JaCoCo for code coverage -->
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
                 <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>0.8.6</version>
+                <version>0.8.8</version>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                    </execution>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>report</id>
+                        <phase>test</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>report</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
             </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>