diff --git a/doc/source/tools/stackalytics-processor.txt b/doc/source/tools/stackalytics-processor.txt
index a6a91f288..e1180acc0 100644
--- a/doc/source/tools/stackalytics-processor.txt
+++ b/doc/source/tools/stackalytics-processor.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ optional arguments:
   --debug, -d           If set to true, the logging level will be set to DEBUG
                         instead of the default INFO level.
   --default-data-uri DEFAULT_DATA_URI
-                        URI for default data
+                        URI for default data. A local file can be used with
+                        the prefix "file://". For example, default_data_uri =
+                        file:///path/to/default_data.json
   --driverlog-data-uri DRIVERLOG_DATA_URI
                         URI for default data
   --gerrit-retry GERRIT_RETRY
diff --git a/etc/stackalytics.conf b/etc/stackalytics.conf
index ce882aa24..321b5d2a5 100644
--- a/etc/stackalytics.conf
+++ b/etc/stackalytics.conf
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@
 # Storage URI (string value)
 #runtime_storage_uri = memcached://127.0.0.1:11211
 
-# URI for default data (string value)
+# URI for default data. A local file can be used with the prefix "file://". For
+# example, default_data_uri = file:///path/to/default_data.json (string value)
 #default_data_uri = https://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack/stackalytics/plain/etc/default_data.json
 
 # The folder that holds all project sources to analyze (string value)
diff --git a/stackalytics/processor/config.py b/stackalytics/processor/config.py
index 4b720e392..5ce661374 100644
--- a/stackalytics/processor/config.py
+++ b/stackalytics/processor/config.py
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ PROCESSOR_OPTS = [
     cfg.StrOpt('default-data-uri',
                default='https://git.openstack.org/cgit/'
                        'openstack/stackalytics/plain/etc/default_data.json',
-               help='URI for default data'),
+               help='URI for default data. A local file can be used with the '
+                    'prefix "file://". For example, '
+                    'default_data_uri = file:///path/to/default_data.json'),
     cfg.StrOpt('sources-root', default='/var/local/stackalytics',
                help='The folder that holds all project sources to analyze'),
     cfg.IntOpt('days_to_update_members', default=30,