diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/resourcemanagement/support/server/managers/scope/ScopeManager.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/resourcemanagement/support/server/managers/scope/ScopeManager.java
index 80189c0..0cd0e40 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/resourcemanagement/support/server/managers/scope/ScopeManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/resourcemanagement/support/server/managers/scope/ScopeManager.java
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -35,18 +35,13 @@ import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
 import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
 
 import org.gcube.common.resources.gcore.GenericResource;
-import org.gcube.common.resources.gcore.utils.XPathHelper;
 import org.gcube.common.scope.api.ScopeProvider;
 import org.gcube.common.scope.impl.ScopeBean;
-import org.gcube.resourcemanagement.support.server.gcube.CacheManager;
-import org.gcube.resourcemanagement.support.server.gcube.ISClientRequester;
 import org.gcube.resourcemanagement.support.server.utils.ServerConsole;
 import org.gcube.resources.discovery.client.api.DiscoveryClient;
 import org.gcube.resources.discovery.client.queries.api.SimpleQuery;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
-import org.w3c.dom.Node;
 import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
-import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
 
 /**
@@ -91,46 +86,56 @@ public class ScopeManager {
 		SCOPES.clear();
 	}
 
-	public static void update()
-			throws Exception {
+	public static void update()	throws Exception {
+		if (confFile == null) {
+			throw new NullPointerException("the scope file has not been defined");
+		}		
+		LinkedHashMap<String, ScopeBean> toCopy = readScopes(confFile);
+		for (String key : toCopy.keySet()) {
+			SCOPES.put(key, toCopy.get(key));
+		}
+	}
+	/**
+	 * 
+	 * @param confFile
+	 * @return
+	 * @throws Exception
+	 */
+	public static LinkedHashMap<String, ScopeBean> readScopes(String confFile) throws Exception {
 		if (confFile == null) {
 			throw new NullPointerException("the scope file has not been defined");
 		}
+		LinkedHashMap<String, ScopeBean>  toReturn = new LinkedHashMap<String, ScopeBean>();
 		String scopeXML = fileToString(confFile);
-		ServerConsole.info(LOG_PREFIX, "Starting retrieving scopes..");
+
 		Document scopeDocument = getDocumentGivenXML(scopeXML);
 		NodeList voElements = scopeDocument.getElementsByTagName("vo");
+
 		for (int i = 0; i < voElements.getLength(); i++) {
 			NodeList voDetails = voElements.item(i).getChildNodes();
 			String voString = voDetails.item(5).getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
-			String fileName = voDetails.item(3).getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
 			// String voName = voDetails.item(1).getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
 			ScopeBean vo = new ScopeBean(voString);
 
+			toReturn.put(vo.toString(), vo);
 			try {
-				//vo.setServiceMap(loadServiceMap((VO) vo, fileName));
-				SCOPES.put(vo.toString(), vo);
-
-				ServerConsole.info(LOG_PREFIX, " Scopes in VO " + vo.toString());
-
-				try {
-					for (String vre : getVREFromVO(vo)) {
-						// This operation overrides the vo map
-						SCOPES.put(vre.toString(), new ScopeBean(vo.toString()+"/"+vre));
-					}
-				} catch (Exception e) {
-					ServerConsole.error(LOG_PREFIX, "Exception raised while loading VREs for VO : " + vo, e);
+				for (String vre : getVREFromVO(vo)) {
+					// This operation overrides the vo map
+					toReturn.put(vre.toString(), new ScopeBean(vo.toString()+"/"+vre));
 				}
+			} catch (Exception e) {
+				ServerConsole.error("Exception raised while loading VREs for VO : " + vo, e);
 			}
-			catch (Exception e) {
-				ServerConsole.warn(LOG_PREFIX, "skipping... map not found for VO : " + vo, e);
-			}
-
-
 		}
-		ServerConsole.info(LOG_PREFIX, "*** found scopes : " + SCOPES.keySet());
-	}
+		return toReturn;
 
+	}
+	/**
+	 * query the IS to get the VRE list given a VO
+	 * @param vo
+	 * @return
+	 * @throws Exception
+	 */
 	protected static List<String> getVREFromVO(final ScopeBean vo) 	throws Exception {
 		ServerConsole.info(LOG_PREFIX, "Starting Retrieving VREs for VO : " + vo);
 		List<String> toReturn = new ArrayList<String>();