Upgrade to Jackson 3.0 and Gradle 8.14.3

[kz282]

Summary

This PR ugrades the project to Jackson 3.0 and Gradle 8.14.3

Changes Made

Gradle Upgrade

• Upgraded Gradle wrapper from 5.6.3 to 8.14.3
• Replaced build.gradle
• Removed project.gradle

Dependency Updates

• Upgraded to use Jackson 3.0 so the project can be used with Spring 7.0
• Updated TestNG to 7.9.0

Java Version

• Updated source/target compatibility to Java 17
• Updated Javadoc links to Java 17 API

Testing

• All existing tests pass
• Build successful with new Gradle version
• No depreciation warnings

Compatibility

• All existing functionality preserved