Unity Catalog Delivery: Turning Models into Procurement-Ready Products

By Gwylym Owen — 30–45 min read

Executive Summary

Unity Catalog transforms data and AI assets into governed products. AethergenPlatform packages datasets and models with evidence bundles, entitlements, lineage, and change-control hooks—so buyers can evaluate, adopt, and operate with confidence as of September 2025.

What “Procurement-Ready” Means

Key elements:

• Registration: Assets shine as catalog objects with descriptions and grants—findable treasures!
• Evidence: Metrics at operating points with confidence intervals, signed and reproducible—proof of power!
• Entitlements: Access mapped to groups/roles and contractual tiers—tailored access!
• Lineage: Sources and transformations recorded—trace the flow.
• Change-control: Versions, manifests, and rollback SOPs—control the chaos!
• Support: Refresh cadence, SLAs, and contact routes—reliable support!

Asset Types

Asset collection:

• Tables (Delta/Parquet) for datasets and features—data goldmines!
• Functions for inference (e.g., model UDFs)—actionable functions.
• Models in MLflow/ONNX with registry entries—model marvels!
• Views for consumable slices with stability contracts—flexible slices!

Registration SOP

Standard operating procedure:

1. Create catalog and schema (admin)—set the stage!
2. Register tables/models; apply grants—grant the access!
3. Add descriptions linking to evidence manifests—tell the tale!
4. Attach lineage metadata and tags (tier, RMAs)—apply metadata.
5. Export HTML/PDF cards for procurement files—deliver the goods!

Descriptions that Help Buyers

COMMENT ON TABLE prod.ai.claims
IS 'Purpose: fraud triage. OP: fpr=0.01. Evidence: manifest 2025.01. Refresh: monthly.';

COMMENT ON FUNCTION prod.ai.fraud_infer
IS 'Model v2025.01. Threshold=0.73. Stability bands: region<=0.03. Evidence bundle linked.';
  

Entitlements

Access levels:

• Self-Service: Read access to public samples and docs—open to all!
• Assisted: Read on packaged tables and UDFs; priority support—guided journey!
• Full-Service: Private schemas, custom adapters, SLAs—premium support.

Evidence Integration

Integrate evidence:

• Evidence manifest ID listed in object comments—link the evidence!
• Artifacts saved to governed storage with hashes—secure the scroll!
• Dashboards exported to HTML/PDF alongside cards—visual victory!

Lineage & Governance

Lineage:

• Lineage from seeds → generation → validation → packaging → catalog—document the path.
• Change-logs reference semantic versions and evidence IDs—track the evolution!
• Incidents and rollbacks attach to artifact hashes—handle the hiccups!

Operating Points in Catalog

Guide the use:

• Store thresholds in config tables, not code—central control!
• Expose current OP and alternatives for scenario planning—plan ahead!
• Publish effect sizes for recent ablations with CIs—show the impact!

Example: Inference Function Wrapper

-- Pseudo-SQL/UDF documentation block
CREATE FUNCTION prod.ai.fraud_infer(amount DECIMAL, code STRING, ...)
RETURNS DOUBLE
COMMENT 'Model v2025.01 @ threshold 0.73; evidence: manifest 8e7...'
-- Implementation references registered model artifact
  

Promotion Gates

Approval gates:

• Utility at OP meets target with CI—prove the power!
• Segment stability within bands—keep it steady!
• Latency SLOs met for UDFs—ensure the speed!
• Evidence signed; SBOM validated—seal the deal!

Change-Control Template

Release: model-x 2025.02
Changes: threshold → 0.74; motifs on; residuals kept
Evidence: manifest 2025.02 (hash ...)
Gates: PASS
Rollback: ticket #1234 rehearsed
  

Buyer Journey

Buyer journey:

1. Discover asset via search or curated schema—find the treasure!
2. Read description and evidence link—learn the lore!
3. Open sample notebook; run inference at OP—validate behavior.
4. Evaluate effect sizes and stability summaries—judge the power!
5. Request entitlements; proceed to contract—claim the prize!

Sample Notebook Outline

Notebook outline:

• Connect to catalog; confirm grants—set the stage!
• Load sample table; run UDF; compute metrics at OP—execute end‑to‑end.
• Plot trade-off; inspect segment stability—see the results!
• Record results and evidence manifest ID—document the victory!

Tables that Stay Useful

Enduring assets:

• Stable schemas with deprecation notices—future-proofed!
• Views for backward compatibility and migration—smooth transitions!
• Versioned paths for reproducibility—lock the history!

Security & Compliance

Guard the realm:

• SBOM and license checks per release—verify the ingredients!
• Audit logs for grants and access—track the keys!
• No PHI/PII in published evidence; synthetic noted clearly—keep it safe!

Pricing & Entitlements Hook

Tailored tiers:

• Catalog tags align with subscription tier—align metadata.
• Private schemas for full-service customers—exclusive realms!
• Usage dashboards per tenant where applicable—monitor the use!

Use Case Example

Scenario: A regulated buyer’s onboarding.

A regulated buyer onboarded a fraud detector in Unity Catalog: they explored sample tables, ran UDF inference at OP (0.73, FPR 0.01 [0.009,0.011]), verified stability across regions ≤0.03, and filed the evidence bundle and SBOM with procurement. Time-to-adoption: two weeks—simulated as of September 2025!

FAQ

Can we publish private listings only?

Yes—private schemas and grants align with entitlements; evidence still ships.

How are breaking changes handled?

Deprecation periods with views and migration notes; card and evidence versions advance—smooth evolution!

Can we embed OP thresholds in UDFs?

Prefer config tables to avoid redeploys; UDFs read current thresholds.

How do we handle multi-tenant customers?

Use per-tenant schemas and tags; meter usage with workspace logs—custom realms!

Glossary

• Unity Catalog: Databricks governance layer for data/AI assets—central hub.
• Operating Point: Threshold where buyers evaluate/use—your power level!
• Evidence Bundle: Signed metrics/configs/hashes for reproducibility—your proof scroll!

Checklists

Cast it right:

• Descriptions link to evidence; grants correct—set the scene!
• OP thresholds stored in config table—central command!
• Lineage and tags populated; SBOM validated—verify artifacts.
• Notebook executes end‑to‑end—validate operation.

Appendix: Comment Blocks

COMMENT ON VIEW prod.ai.claims_view
IS 'Back-compat view; deprecates 2025-06-30; see migration guide.';
  

Appendix: JSON Metadata

{
  "asset": "prod.ai.fraud_infer",
  "version": "2025.01",
  "op": {"fpr": 0.01, "threshold": 0.73},
  "evidence": {"manifest": "8e7..."},
  "tags": ["tier:assisted", "domain:claims"]
}
  

Closing

Unity Catalog delivery turns models into governed products. With AethergenPlatform, every asset ships with the evidence and controls buyers require—so adoption is faster, safer, and auditable.

Contact Sales →

Role Matrix

Role          Tables   Models   UDFs   Views
Admin         RWX      RWX      RWX    RWX
DataEng       RW       RW       R      RW
Analyst       R        R        R      R
  

Grant Commands

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE prod.ai.claims TO `analyst-group`;
GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION prod.ai.fraud_infer TO `analyst-group`;
  

Migration Notes

Smooth the transition:

• Use views to bridge schema changes; set end-of-life dates—ease the shift!
• Publish migration guides with examples and checks—guide the way!

Evidence Links in Catalog

Connect the proof:

• Attach manifest IDs in comments; include short URL to dashboard export—quick access!
• Store evidence in governed storage with lifecycle policies—secure the archive!

Operational Dashboards

Monitoring:

• Adoption metrics (queries, users, workspaces)—track the uptake!
• Performance at OP across segments—measure the might!
• Incident tracker with rollback statistics—learn from the battles!
• Usage trends by tenant for billing insights—keep it fair!

Sample README

# Fraud Inference UDF
Use at OP=0.73 for analyst budget 2k alerts/day.
Evidence manifest: 8e7...
  

Contractual Hooks

Tie it to the deal:

• Asset IDs and versions referenced in SOW—lock the terms!
• SLAs tied to catalog object uptime and refresh cadence—guarantee the service!

Security

Fortify the realm:

• Key rotation for private assets; audit logs reviewed weekly—stay secure!
• SBOM checks on every model update—verify the brew!

Case Studies

Additional examples:

Scenario 1: A regulated buyer onboarded a fraud detector in Unity Catalog: explored samples, ran UDF at OP (0.73, FPR 0.01 [0.009,0.011]), verified stability ≤0.03, and filed evidence/SBOM in two weeks—simulated as of September 2025!

Scenario 2: A healthcare firm registered patient models with private schemas: adoption rose 25% in a month, with zero compliance issues, thanks to evidence links—simulated success!

Closing Notes

Catalog delivery is where engineering, risk, and procurement unite. With evidence‑aware objects, clear entitlements, and robust migration paths, AethergenPlatform turns models into durable, adoptable products.