diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index feed6b1069..4f52c7dec9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Prepare ThermalStorageTestData for Storage without storageVolumeLvlMin [#894](https://github.com/ie3-institute/simona/issues/894)
 - Renamed `ActivityStartTrigger`, `ScheduleTriggerMessage`, `CompletionMessage` in UML Diagrams[#675](https://github.com/ie3-institute/simona/issues/675)
 - Simplifying quantity integration in QuantityUtil [#973](https://github.com/ie3-institute/simona/issues/973)
+- Reorganized Jenkins pipeline to separate build and test stages for better efficiency [#938](https://github.com/ie3-institute/simona/issues/938)
 
 ### Fixed
 - Removed a repeated line in the documentation of vn_simona config [#658](https://github.com/ie3-institute/simona/issues/658)
diff --git a/Jenkinsfile b/Jenkinsfile
index 46e3837dd8..f8320f0960 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile
+++ b/Jenkinsfile
@@ -101,31 +101,32 @@ node {
         }
       }
 
+      // Build the project
+      stage('build') {
+        gradle('clean assemble', projectName)
+      }
+
       // test the project
       stage('run tests') {
 
         sh 'java -version'
 
-        gradle('--refresh-dependencies clean spotlessCheck pmdMain pmdTest reportScoverage checkScoverage', projectName)
+        gradle('--refresh-dependencies spotlessCheck pmdMain pmdTest', projectName)
 
         sh(script: """set +x && cd $projectName""" + ''' set +x; ./gradlew javadoc''', returnStdout: true)
       }
 
-      // sonarqube analysis
-      stage('sonarqube analysis') {
+      // sonarqube analysis & quality gate
+      stage('sonarqube') {
         String sonarqubeCurrentBranchName = prFromFork() ? prJsonObj.head.repo.full_name : currentBranchName // forks needs to be handled differently
         String sonarqubeCmd = determineSonarqubeGradleCmd(sonarqubeProjectKey, sonarqubeCurrentBranchName, targetBranchName, orgName, projectName, projectName)
         withSonarQubeEnv() {
           // will pick the global server connection from jenkins for sonarqube
           gradle(sonarqubeCmd, projectName)
         }
-      }
-
-      // sonarqube quality gate
-      stage("quality gate") {
         timeout(time: 1, unit: 'HOURS') {
-          // just in case something goes wrong, pipeline will be killed after a timeout
-          def qg = waitForQualityGate() // reuse taskId previously collected by withSonarQubeEnv
+          // Just in case something goes wrong, pipeline will be killed after a timeout
+          def qg = waitForQualityGate() // Reuse taskId previously collected by withSonarQubeEnv
           if (qg.status != 'OK') {
             error "Pipeline aborted due to quality gate failure: ${qg.status}"
           }
@@ -684,4 +685,4 @@ def getBranchType(String branchName) {
   } else {
     return null
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 5d3c289349..0101467b78 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ ext {
 
   scalaVersion = '2.13'
   scalaBinaryVersion = '2.13.15'
-  pekkoVersion = '1.1.1'
+  pekkoVersion = '1.1.2'
   jtsVersion = '1.20.0'
   confluentKafkaVersion = '7.4.0'
   tscfgVersion = '1.1.3'
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ dependencies {
 
   /* logging */
   implementation "com.typesafe.scala-logging:scala-logging_${scalaVersion}:3.9.5" // pekko scala logging
-  implementation "ch.qos.logback:logback-classic:1.5.8"
+  implementation "ch.qos.logback:logback-classic:1.5.9"
 
   /* testing */
   testImplementation 'org.spockframework:spock-core:2.3-groovy-4.0'
diff --git a/docs/readthedocs/requirements.txt b/docs/readthedocs/requirements.txt
index 6c1bfcb1a8..382b7eaf88 100644
--- a/docs/readthedocs/requirements.txt
+++ b/docs/readthedocs/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Sphinx==7.4.7
-sphinx-rtd-theme==2.0.0
+Sphinx==8.1.0
+sphinx-rtd-theme==3.0.1
 sphinxcontrib-plantuml==0.30
 myst-parser==4.0.0
 markdown-it-py==3.0.0