diff --git a/contrib/analysis/collect_config_data.py b/contrib/analysis/collect_config_data.py
index 6a7e612899..5041304dbb 100755
--- a/contrib/analysis/collect_config_data.py
+++ b/contrib/analysis/collect_config_data.py
@@ -321,6 +321,7 @@ def main(args, logger):
     database = dict()  # stores config data for all the pbench runs
 
     for res in result_list:
+
         record = res.get()
         if record:
             run_id = record["run_id"]
@@ -361,7 +362,7 @@ def main(args, logger):
     print(df.nunique())
 
     # Covert dataframe to a csv file
-    df.to_csv(r"config.csv", sep=";", mode="a")
+    df.to_csv(r"config.csv", sep=";", mode="w")
 
     return 0
 
diff --git a/contrib/analysis/merge.py b/contrib/analysis/merge.py
index c9bd7c9949..62bfea5537 100755
--- a/contrib/analysis/merge.py
+++ b/contrib/analysis/merge.py
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ def main(args):
     thr_df = df[df["sample.measurement_type"] == "throughput"]
 
     # Covert dataframes to csv files
-    slat_df.to_csv(r"latency_slat.csv", sep=";", mode="a")
-    clat_df.to_csv(r"latency_clat.csv", sep=";", mode="a")
-    lat_df.to_csv(r"latency_lat.csv", sep=";", mode="a")
-    thr_df.to_csv(r"throughput_iops_sec.csv", sep=";", mode="a")
+    slat_df.to_csv(r"latency_slat.csv", sep=";", mode="w")
+    clat_df.to_csv(r"latency_clat.csv", sep=";", mode="w")
+    lat_df.to_csv(r"latency_lat.csv", sep=";", mode="w")
+    thr_df.to_csv(r"throughput_iops_sec.csv", sep=";", mode="w")
 
     return 0
 
diff --git a/contrib/analysis/merge_sos_and_perf_parallel.py b/contrib/analysis/merge_sos_and_perf_parallel.py
index 421b42564c..142f57bc1f 100755
--- a/contrib/analysis/merge_sos_and_perf_parallel.py
+++ b/contrib/analysis/merge_sos_and_perf_parallel.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ def es_data_gen(es, index, doc_type):
         index=index,
         doc_type=doc_type,
         scroll="1d",
+        request_timeout=3600,  # to prevent timeout errors (3600 is arbitrary)
     ):
         yield doc
 
@@ -177,6 +178,7 @@ def extract_clients(results_meta, es):
         index=run_index,
         doc_type="pbench-run-toc-entry",
         scroll="1m",
+        request_timeout=3600,  # to prevent timeout errors (3600 is arbitrary)
     ):
         src = doc["_source"]
         if src["parent"] == parent_dir_name:
@@ -329,45 +331,29 @@ def transform_result(source, pbench_runs, results_seen, stats):
     result["controller_dir"] = pbench_run["controller_dir"]
     result["sosreports"] = pbench_run["sosreports"]
 
-    # optional workload parameters
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.filename"] = ", ".join(
-            set((benchmark["filename"].split(",")))
-        )
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.filename"] = "/tmp/fio"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.iodepth"] = benchmark["iodepth"]
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.iodepth"] = "32"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.size"] = ", ".join(set((benchmark["size"].split(","))))
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.size"] = "4096M"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.numjobs"] = ", ".join(set((benchmark["numjobs"].split(","))))
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.numjobs"] = "1"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.ramp_time"] = benchmark["ramp_time"]
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.ramp_time"] = "none"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.runtime"] = benchmark["runtime"]
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.runtime"] = "none"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.sync"] = benchmark["sync"]
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.sync"] = "none"
-    try:
-        result["benchmark.time_based"] = benchmark["time_based"]
-    except KeyError:
-        result["benchmark.time_based"] = "none"
+    # optional workload parameters accounting for defaults if not found
+
+    result["benchmark.filename"] = sentence_setify(
+        benchmark.get("filename", "/tmp/fio")
+    )
+    result["benchmark.iodepth"] = benchmark.get("iodepth", "32")
+    result["benchmark.size"] = sentence_setify(benchmark.get("size", "4096M"))
+    result["benchmark.numjobs"] = sentence_setify(benchmark.get("numjobs", "1"))
+    result["benchmark.ramp_time"] = benchmark.get("ramp_time", "none")
+    result["benchmark.runtime"] = benchmark.get("runtime", "none")
+    result["benchmark.sync"] = benchmark.get("sync", "none")
+    result["benchmark.time_based"] = benchmark.get("time_based", "none")
 
     return result
 
 
+def sentence_setify(sentence: str) -> str:
+    """Splits input by ", " gets rid of duplicates and rejoins unique
+    items into original format. Effectively removes duplicates in input.
+    """
+    return ", ".join(set((sentence.split(", "))))
+
+
 def process_results(es, now, session, incoming_url, pool, pbench_runs, stats):
     """Intermediate generator for handling the fetching of the client names, disk
     names, and host names.
@@ -460,7 +446,9 @@ def main(args):
     ncpus = multiprocessing.cpu_count() - 1 if concurrency == 0 else concurrency
     pool = multiprocessing.Pool(ncpus) if ncpus != 1 else None
 
-    es = Elasticsearch([f"{es_host}:{es_port}"])
+    es = Elasticsearch(
+        [f"{es_host}:{es_port}"], timeout=60
+    )  # to prevent read timeout errors (60 is arbitrary)
 
     session = requests.Session()
     ua = session.headers["User-Agent"]