Need for control, speed, and visibility

Lumo wanted to strengthen compliance and security while giving developers and analysts more freedom to work efficiently. The goal was a single, unified platform where data access, governance, and auditing were consistent and where performance and usability improved.

Another major driver for the migration was cost transparency. Previously, Lumo had limited visibility into workload costs. With Unity Catalog’s detailed usage logs and audit features, the team can now see exactly how compute resources are utilized and optimize infrastructure. 

With improved data discoverability and visibility to data lineage, working with data became more intuitive. Instead of browsing through external storage, everything is now accessible directly inside Databricks and there are fewer steps, faster access, and smoother workflows.

A migration done right

The migration kicked off with a thorough assessment of the existing Databricks setup – catalogs, tables, permissions, and workloads – to understand the exact scope and required changes. Based on this, Recordly designed a new governance structure for the Unity Catalog metastore, including catalogs, schemas, naming conventions, and a clear Role-Based Access control (RBAC) model.

With the structure defined, the team prepared the necessary storage credentials, external locations, and identity mappings. The metastore was then configured and data objects were migrated. Hive Metastore (a central catalog that stores information about your data) tables were converted, external tables were registered under Unity Catalog with the correct permissions, and all workloads – notebooks, SQL queries, and scheduled jobs – were updated to reference the new catalog paths.

Extensive testing ensured that functionality, performance, and access rights behaved exactly as expected. Once validated, the updated environment was rolled out to teams, complete with documentation, guidance, and the removal of legacy dependencies to guarantee a stable and well-governed platform.

After several weeks of preparation and testing, the production cutover took just two days with no major disruption to daily operations. The full migration was completed in under two months; a result made possible by careful planning and close collaboration.

Recordly streamlined governance, unified access management, and optimized performance under the new Unity Catalog structure. The outcome is a data platform that’s both compliant and flexible; a strong foundation for future innovation.