Jumpstart your Data Modeling with Databricks Industry Data Models

Summary

Databricks is publishing a public library of 40 Lakehouse industry data models designed to provide Silver-layer foundations for analytics and machine learning. Each industry offers a Minimum Viable Model and Expanded Coverage Model derived from the same model.json, with breadth rather than attribute depth distinguishing the scopes. A rules-driven AI agent applies more than 200 structural checks across 14-plus modeling domains, enforcing hierarchy, primary and foreign keys, normalization, division balance, data types, governance tags, and acyclic relationships. The models deploy to Unity Catalog in three physical cataloging styles and include DDL, schemas, metric views, classification tags, ontology, diagrams, and synthetic data with valid references. The airline ECM example contains 19 domains, 420 products, 17,278 attributes, 420 primary keys, and 2,877 foreign keys, while the models remain customizable starting points requiring domain expertise and organizational review.

Context

Traditional industry data models often provide broad, generic schemas that require substantial trimming, renaming, and rewiring before they fit an organization. Production analytical data models have historically taken months to years to build, creating a need for faster Silver-layer foundations that still provide structural quality and sector-specific terminology.

Approach / What changed

A public library provides 40 industry models in two scopes: Minimum Viable Model and Expanded Coverage Model. Both derive from the same environment-independent model.json and are validated by a rules-driven AI agent against more than 200 rules. Models can deploy to Unity Catalog using one catalog, catalog-per-division, or catalog-per-domain layouts, with logical artifacts and physical assets including Delta tables, constraints, tags, metric views, and synthetic data.

Takeaways

• MVM contains 30–50% of the ECM table count while retaining the same attribute richness per table; the difference is fewer domains and tables, not thinner tables.
• The six-level hierarchy is Organization → Division → Domain → Subdomain → Product → Attribute, with Operations and Business required to comprise at least 80% of domains and Corporate capped at 20%.
• The airline ECM v1 example has 19 domains, 60 subdomains, 420 products, 17,278 attributes, 420 primary keys, 2,877 foreign keys, and 203 metric views.

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