diff --git a/common/configtx/inspector/inspector_test.go b/common/configtx/inspector/inspector_test.go
index 7a91def8fd8..2fbf9cd8ad3 100644
--- a/common/configtx/inspector/inspector_test.go
+++ b/common/configtx/inspector/inspector_test.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestFromTemplate(t *testing.T) {
-	ordererTemplate := configtxtest.GetOrdererTemplate()
+	ordererTemplate := configtxtest.OrdererTemplate()
 	signedItems, err := ordererTemplate.Items("SampleChainID")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Error creating signed items: %s", err)
diff --git a/common/configtx/test/helper.go b/common/configtx/test/helper.go
index 36e2b4af4c8..c9de35d5cbc 100644
--- a/common/configtx/test/helper.go
+++ b/common/configtx/test/helper.go
@@ -48,19 +48,34 @@ var peerTemplate configtx.Template
 
 var genesisFactory genesis.Factory
 
-func readTemplate(name string) configtx.Template {
-	gopath := os.Getenv("GOPATH")
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(gopath + "/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/common/configtx/test/" + name)
+func init() {
+	ordererTemplate = readTemplate(OrdererTemplateName)
+	mspTemplate = readTemplate(MSPTemplateName)
+	peerTemplate = readTemplate(PeerTemplateName)
+	genesisFactory = genesis.NewFactoryImpl(configtx.NewCompositeTemplate(mspTemplate, ordererTemplate, peerTemplate))
+}
+
+func resolveName(name string) (string, []byte) {
+	path := os.Getenv("GOPATH") + "/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/common/configtx/test/" + name
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	if err == nil {
+		return path, data
+	}
+
+	path = os.Getenv("PEER_CFG_PATH") + "/common/configtx/test/" + name
+	data, err = ioutil.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
-		peerConfig := os.Getenv("PEER_CFG_PATH")
-		data, err = ioutil.ReadFile(peerConfig + "/common/configtx/test/" + name)
-		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
+	return path, data
+}
+
+func readTemplate(name string) configtx.Template {
+	_, data := resolveName(name)
+
 	templateProto := &cb.ConfigurationTemplate{}
-	err = proto.Unmarshal(data, templateProto)
+	err := proto.Unmarshal(data, templateProto)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
@@ -68,39 +83,35 @@ func readTemplate(name string) configtx.Template {
 	return configtx.NewSimpleTemplate(templateProto.Items...)
 }
 
-func init() {
-	ordererTemplate = readTemplate(OrdererTemplateName)
-	mspTemplate = readTemplate(MSPTemplateName)
-	peerTemplate = readTemplate(PeerTemplateName)
-	genesisFactory = genesis.NewFactoryImpl(configtx.NewCompositeTemplate(mspTemplate, ordererTemplate, peerTemplate))
-}
-
 // WriteTemplate takes an output file and set of config items and writes them to that file as a marshaled ConfigurationTemplate
-func WriteTemplate(outputFile string, items ...*cb.ConfigurationItem) {
+func WriteTemplate(name string, items ...*cb.ConfigurationItem) {
+	path, _ := resolveName(name)
+
 	logger.Debugf("Encoding configuration template")
 	outputData := utils.MarshalOrPanic(&cb.ConfigurationTemplate{
 		Items: items,
 	})
 
-	logger.Debugf("Writing configuration to disk")
-	ioutil.WriteFile(outputFile, outputData, 0644)
+	logger.Debugf("Writing configuration to %s", path)
+	ioutil.WriteFile(path, outputData, 0644)
 }
 
+// MakeGenesisBlock creates a genesis block using the test templates for the given chainID
 func MakeGenesisBlock(chainID string) (*cb.Block, error) {
 	return genesisFactory.Block(chainID)
 }
 
-// GetOrderererTemplate returns the test orderer template
-func GetOrdererTemplate() configtx.Template {
+// OrderererTemplate returns the test orderer template
+func OrdererTemplate() configtx.Template {
 	return ordererTemplate
 }
 
-// GetMSPerTemplate returns the test MSP template
-func GetMSPTemplate() configtx.Template {
+// MSPerTemplate returns the test MSP template
+func MSPTemplate() configtx.Template {
 	return mspTemplate
 }
 
-// GetMSPerTemplate returns the test peer template
-func GetPeerTemplate() configtx.Template {
+// MSPerTemplate returns the test peer template
+func PeerTemplate() configtx.Template {
 	return peerTemplate
 }
diff --git a/core/common/validation/config_test.go b/core/common/validation/config_test.go
index dcbe8f1ac09..a4805c916a8 100644
--- a/core/common/validation/config_test.go
+++ b/core/common/validation/config_test.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import (
 
 func TestValidateConfigTx(t *testing.T) {
 	chainID := util.GetTestChainID()
-	oTemplate := test.GetOrdererTemplate()
+	oTemplate := test.OrdererTemplate()
 	mspcfg := configtx.NewSimpleTemplate(utils.EncodeMSPUnsigned(chainID))
 	chainCfg := configtx.NewSimpleTemplate(chainconfig.DefaultHashingAlgorithm())
 	chCrtTemp := configtx.NewCompositeTemplate(oTemplate, mspcfg, chainCfg)
diff --git a/msp/template_test.go b/msp/template_test.go
index 723f4ef8e4f..aba06c6cb73 100644
--- a/msp/template_test.go
+++ b/msp/template_test.go
@@ -37,5 +37,5 @@ func TestTemplate(t *testing.T) {
 	// XXX We should really get the MSP name by inspecting it, but, we know it is DEFAULT so hardcoding for now
 	ci := &common.ConfigurationItem{Type: common.ConfigurationItem_MSP, Key: "DEFAULT", Value: confBytes}
 
-	configtxtest.WriteTemplate("../common/configtx/test/"+configtxtest.MSPTemplateName, ci)
+	configtxtest.WriteTemplate(configtxtest.MSPTemplateName, ci)
 }
diff --git a/orderer/tools/configtemplate/main_test.go b/orderer/common/bootstrap/provisional/template_test.go
similarity index 74%
rename from orderer/tools/configtemplate/main_test.go
rename to orderer/common/bootstrap/provisional/template_test.go
index b7ec65e54ab..aab2c9259ad 100644
--- a/orderer/tools/configtemplate/main_test.go
+++ b/orderer/common/bootstrap/provisional/template_test.go
@@ -14,14 +14,21 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
-package main
+package provisional
 
 import (
 	"testing"
 
 	configtxtest "github.com/hyperledger/fabric/common/configtx/test"
+	"github.com/hyperledger/fabric/orderer/localconfig"
 )
 
 func TestUpdateTemplate(t *testing.T) {
-	writeTemplate("../../../common/configtx/test/" + configtxtest.OrdererTemplateName)
+	conf := config.Load()
+
+	generator := New(conf)
+
+	templateItems := generator.TemplateItems()
+
+	configtxtest.WriteTemplate(configtxtest.OrdererTemplateName, templateItems...)
 }
diff --git a/orderer/tools/configtemplate/main.go b/orderer/tools/configtemplate/main.go
deleted file mode 100644
index c6f020b175a..00000000000
--- a/orderer/tools/configtemplate/main.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright IBM Corp. 2017 All Rights Reserved.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-                 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package main
-
-import (
-	"flag"
-
-	configtxtest "github.com/hyperledger/fabric/common/configtx/test"
-	"github.com/hyperledger/fabric/common/flogging"
-	"github.com/hyperledger/fabric/orderer/common/bootstrap/provisional"
-	"github.com/hyperledger/fabric/orderer/localconfig"
-
-	logging "github.com/op/go-logging"
-)
-
-var logger = logging.MustGetLogger("orderer/tools/baseconfig")
-
-const defaultOutputFile = "orderer.template"
-
-func writeTemplate(outputFile string) {
-	conf := config.Load()
-	flogging.InitFromSpec(conf.General.LogLevel)
-
-	logger.Debugf("Initializing generator")
-	generator := provisional.New(conf)
-
-	logger.Debugf("Producing template items")
-	templateItems := generator.TemplateItems()
-
-	configtxtest.WriteTemplate(outputFile, templateItems...)
-}
-
-func main() {
-	var outputFile string
-	flag.StringVar(&outputFile, "outputFile", defaultOutputFile, "The file to write the configuration templatee to")
-	flag.Parse()
-
-	writeTemplate(outputFile)
-}
diff --git a/peer/channel/create.go b/peer/channel/create.go
index 075911cea2f..4947cf07406 100644
--- a/peer/channel/create.go
+++ b/peer/channel/create.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func sendCreateChainTransaction(cf *ChannelCmdFactory) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	//TODO this is a temporary hack until `orderer.template` is supplied from the CLI
-	oTemplate := configtxtest.GetOrdererTemplate()
+	oTemplate := configtxtest.OrdererTemplate()
 	mspTemplate := configtx.NewSimpleTemplate(utils.EncodeMSPUnsigned(chainID))
 	gossTemplate := configtx.NewSimpleTemplate(sharedconfig.TemplateAnchorPeers(anchorPeers))
 	chCrtTemp := configtx.NewCompositeTemplate(oTemplate, mspTemplate, gossTemplate)
diff --git a/peer/sharedconfig/template_test.go b/peer/sharedconfig/template_test.go
index 92c15cf3a81..929f7ba7e52 100644
--- a/peer/sharedconfig/template_test.go
+++ b/peer/sharedconfig/template_test.go
@@ -23,8 +23,5 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestTemplate(t *testing.T) {
-	configtxtest.WriteTemplate(
-		"../../common/configtx/test/"+configtxtest.PeerTemplateName,
-		DefaultAnchorPeers(),
-	)
+	configtxtest.WriteTemplate(configtxtest.PeerTemplateName, DefaultAnchorPeers())
 }