Add unit tests for utils

**Description**
Currently validation lacks proper sorting support.

**Proposed solution**
Add configurable sorting with sensible defaults.

**Priority**: Low/Medium

Inspect the repository's utility and validation code, then look for any existing unit-test patterns or test entry points. Confirm how sorting is currently handled before defining coverage for configurable sorting and its sensible defaults; the work is done when those behaviors are tested and the relevant test suite passes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.