Add unit tests for utils

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

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

**Priority**: Low/Medium

Start by locating the utils validation code and any existing notification-related tests or entry points. Determine the expected configurable notification behavior and sensible defaults, then add unit coverage showing validation notifications work with those defaults and configuration options.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.