A mid-market manufacturing client engaged our team to modernize its data and analytics foundation, moving from a fragmented on-premises legacy data warehouse to a secure, cloud-native platform on Azure Databricks. The objective was to unlock trusted reporting, accelerate decision-making, and build the foundation for AI-enabled use cases across finance, sales, and operations.

Engagement Objectives

 
Business Objectives
  • Improve financial reporting integrity
  • Enhance data reporting and analytics capabilities
  • Strengthen data security and access management
  • Optimize investment and resource allocation
  • Foster innovation and technical excellence
  • Expand market reach and business impact
 
Technical Objectives
  • Establish a robust Azure Databricks platform for data management, analytics, and AI model development
  • Implement zero-trust security with IAM, SCIM, RBAC, and PIM
  • Fortify deployment via Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines
  • Transition from on-premises legacy data warehouse and prepare for ERP upgrades

Challenges We Addressed

01
Technical Debt

From a legacy on-premises data warehouse limiting scalability and trust in reporting.

02
Governance and Access Control Gaps

Creating risk in how sensitive data was managed and consumed.

03
Cross-Functional Misalignment

Across development, operations, and support, with no dedicated PMO or data quality function.

04
Lack of Integration and Architecture Ownership

Leading to inconsistent engagement and slowed delivery.

Our Solution

We designed and delivered an end-to-end modern data platform on Azure Databricks, anchored on a Medallion Architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold) with Delta Lake and Unity Catalog for governance.

 

ERP data integration

into Azure Databricks via Azure Data Factory pipelines.

 

Medallion architecture on Delta Lake

for raw, curated, and business-ready data layers.

 

Zero-trust security framework

with SCIM, MFA, RBAC, and PIM, governed through Unity Catalog.

 

CI/CD with Azure DevOps

across Dev, Test, and Prod environments.

 

Targeted use case: salesperson performance analytics

as a flagship deliverable to prove value early.

Results Delivered

10 months
From discovery to production execution
3 environments
Dev, Test, Prod with full CI/CD
Zero
Trust security model deployed
 

Successfully integrated ERP data into Azure Databricks, redirecting finance reporting through governed pipelines.

 

Established a Unity Catalog–governed platform with master data replication and a completed Build Lab.

 

Delivered a flagship analytics use case creating a milestone in sales performance reporting.

 

Hardened security posture via SCIM integration, MFA, and role-based access.

Key Learnings

Choose the right partner

one with both platform depth and change-management experience.

Communicate continuously

across business, IT, and executive stakeholders throughout delivery.

Lead with a use case

a focused, high-visibility outcome builds trust and momentum.

Align with stakeholders early

shared definitions of success prevent late-stage rework.

Ready to start your own data renaissance?

We help manufacturers modernize their data foundation on Databricks — from secure platform setup through governed analytics and AI-ready use cases. Let's discuss how this playbook can apply to your business.