diff --git a/.github/config/dep-report.json5 b/.github/config/dep-report.json5
index 824b82f13..c34800761 100644
--- a/.github/config/dep-report.json5
+++ b/.github/config/dep-report.json5
@@ -3,4 +3,10 @@
   // Check package.json files for dependency updates.
   packageJsonPaths: ["react-app", "express-api"],
 
+  // List of packages to ignore when reporting in jira ticket(s)
+  ignoreList: ["xlsx"],
+
+  // Sets what levels of dependencies to include in the jira ticket(s)
+  depLevels: ["minor", "major"],
+
 }
diff --git a/.github/helpers/npm-deps/parse_to_comment.py b/.github/helpers/npm-deps/parse_to_comment.py
index cb7d3e03e..dd27bc5ea 100644
--- a/.github/helpers/npm-deps/parse_to_comment.py
+++ b/.github/helpers/npm-deps/parse_to_comment.py
@@ -72,9 +72,9 @@
 ERR_LI = []
 WARN_LI = []
 # list of levels to include in report
-LEVELS = [S_MINOR, S_MAJOR]
+LEVELS = []
 # if a variable name matches one in this list it will be left out of the normal list
-IGNORE_LIST = ["xlsx"]
+IGNORE_LIST = []
 
 def set_level_and_exit_code(code, message):
     """
@@ -157,6 +157,22 @@ def get_env_variables():
     # add to return object
     return_env['DEP_INPUT'] = decoded_str
 
+    try:
+        ignore_li = os.environ["ignoreList"]
+    except KeyError:
+        log(ERROR, "Unable to get < ignoreList >")
+        exit(ERROR)
+    # transform string of a list to a list and add to dict
+    return_env['IGNORE_LIST'] = json.loads(ignore_li)
+
+    try:
+        dep_levels = os.environ["depLevels"]
+    except KeyError:
+        log(ERROR, "Unable to get < depLevels >")
+        exit(ERROR)
+    # transform string of a list to a list and add to dict
+    return_env['DEP_LEVELS'] = json.loads(dep_levels)
+
     return return_env
 
 def create_comment_string(dep_level, dep_cmd, dep_li):
@@ -397,11 +413,15 @@ def main():
     dependencies in IGNORE_LIST and generate report updates in the levels specified in LEVELS.
     See doc above for sample input and output.
     """
+    global IGNORE_LIST # pylint: disable=global-statement
+    global LEVELS # pylint: disable=global-statement
     # get envronment variables
     env_vars = get_env_variables()
 
-    # get the string to process
+    # get the string to process, ignore list, and dependency levels to report on
     github_output_string = env_vars['DEP_INPUT']
+    IGNORE_LIST = env_vars["IGNORE_LIST"]
+    LEVELS = env_vars["DEP_LEVELS"]
 
     # convert input to json
     json_input = json.loads(github_output_string)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/app-npm-dep-check.yml b/.github/workflows/app-npm-dep-check.yml
index 2b45ade54..74ffbc0a5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/app-npm-dep-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/app-npm-dep-check.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ jobs:
   parse-json5-config:
       runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
       outputs:
+        # save output from dep-report.json5 to Github env variables
         packageJsonPaths: ${{ steps.parse_config.outputs.packageJsonPaths }}
+        ignoreList: ${{ steps.parse_config.outputs.ignoreList }}
+        depLevels: ${{ steps.parse_config.outputs.depLevels }}
 
       steps:
         # Checkout branch.
@@ -77,6 +80,9 @@ jobs:
     needs:
       - parse-json5-config
       - parse-package-versions
+    env:
+      ignoreList: ${{ needs.parse-json5-config.outputs.ignoreList }}
+      depLevels: ${{ needs.parse-json5-config.outputs.depLevels }}
     outputs:
         commentContents: ${{ steps.create_comment.outputs.commentContents }}
     steps: