diff --git a/deploy/Dockerfile b/deploy/Dockerfile
index f9248c63..18127627 100644
--- a/deploy/Dockerfile
+++ b/deploy/Dockerfile
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ ENV HOME=/app
 
 RUN chown -R appuser:appgroup /opt/venv /app
 
+RUN mkdir -p /app/data/logs/service && chown -R appuser:appgroup /app/data
+
 USER appuser
 
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
diff --git a/scripts/sap_automation_qa.sh b/scripts/sap_automation_qa.sh
index 80b8b449..b2f6a3dd 100755
--- a/scripts/sap_automation_qa.sh
+++ b/scripts/sap_automation_qa.sh
@@ -443,6 +443,11 @@ run_ansible_playbook() {
         command+=" $ANSIBLE_VERBOSE"
     fi
 
+    if [[ "${ANSIBLE_CHECK_MODE:-}" == "true" ]]; then
+        command+=" --syntax-check"
+        log "INFO" "Syntax-check mode enabled (ANSIBLE_CHECK_MODE=true)"
+    fi
+
     # Set ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH so execution output is captured for HTML reports
     local log_dir="${system_config_folder}/logs"
     mkdir -p "$log_dir"
@@ -536,6 +541,10 @@ main() {
 
     # Override SAP_FUNCTIONAL_TEST_TYPE based on --test_groups if specified
     if [[ -n "$TEST_GROUPS" ]]; then
+        if [[ "$TEST_TYPE" != "SAPFunctionalTests" ]]; then
+            log "INFO" "Overriding TEST_TYPE: '$TEST_TYPE' -> 'SAPFunctionalTests' (--test_groups implies functional tests)"
+            TEST_TYPE="SAPFunctionalTests"
+        fi
         local test_filter_script="${cmd_dir}/../src/module_utils/filter_tests.py"
         local input_api_file="${cmd_dir}/../src/vars/input-api.yaml"
         local resolved_type
diff --git a/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-db.yml b/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-db.yml
index 17b33fd1..5947a690 100644
--- a/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-db.yml
+++ b/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-db.yml
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
       register:                     cluster_status_pre
       until:                        cluster_status_pre.primary_node != "" and
                                     cluster_status_pre.secondary_node != ""
-      retries:                      "{{ default_retries }}"
+      retries:                      2
       delay:                        "{{ default_delay }}"
 
     - name:                         "Pre Validation: Scale-out HSR cluster topology"
diff --git a/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-scs.yml b/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-scs.yml
index 2b3b8425..c17dea71 100644
--- a/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-scs.yml
+++ b/src/roles/misc/tasks/pre-validations-scs.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
         sap_sid:                    "{{ sap_sid | lower }}"
       become:                       true
       register:                     cluster_status_pre
+      until:                        cluster_status_pre.ascs_node | default('') != "" and
+                                    cluster_status_pre.ers_node | default('') != ""
+      retries:                      2
+      delay:                        "{{ default_delay }}"
 
     - name:                         "Pre Validation: CleanUp any failed resource"
       become:                       true