Harnessing the Power of Databricks for Smarter, Faster Supply Chain Decisions

Recent erratic foreign trade policy and global instability have made traditional methods of supply chain planning nearly impossible. Supply chain professionals face more pressure than ever to stay resilient, agile, and responsive in the face of ever-mounting uncertainty. Making large-scale, system-wide changes amid such volatility and ambiguity is unwise and could be detrimental to your business’s future.

That is why GAINS designed our DEO (Decision Engineering & Orchestration) platform to meet businesses where they are today, helping them unlock value from their existing systems and data without the need for a dramatic system-wide overhaul in the midst of a crisis. GAINS believes that navigating uncertainty and making improvements shouldn’t require massive months or years-long “rip-and-replace” projects. Supply chain leaders should instead take an incremental approach to improvement, making smarter, faster decisions every day, building on “quick wins” as they go.

To enable this, GAINS has built a composable architecture built for flexibility and growth, enabling companies to seamlessly integrate our solution into their existing solution ecosystems. Our composable structure and Agentic AI allow supply chain leaders to scale up with confidence and take full advantage of their existing data, ERP systems, and tools.

Using Databricks to Build a Foundation for Decisions.

GAINS uses Databricks behind the scenes to make our Decision Engineering & Orchestration platform even smarter, helping us build a solid foundation of data you can trust.  In simple terms, think of Databricks as a smart workspace where data scientists, analysts, and business users collaborate to turn your raw data into real decisions, so GAINS can deliver insights that move the needle.  Whether that means reducing excess inventory, improving service levels, or rerouting supply lines around a disruption.

What makes GAINS DEO so powerful is that it brings together data engineering, machine learning, and analytics into one place. For supply chain professionals, that means faster access to clean, reliable data and the ability to build predictive models that respond proactively to change. By using Databricks as part of our DEO solution, we can deliver the insights our customers need to turn complexity into clarity. Supporting resilient planning, faster execution, and stronger performance across the supply chain is just one of the ways we help businesses move forward faster—delivering results that are measurable, meaningful, and built to last.

The Medallion Architecture: A Smarter Way to Manage Data

Reliable supply chain decisions start with reliable data, and in every supply chain environment, data flows in fast—and it’s rarely clean, organized, or immediately useful. That’s where Databricks’ Medallion Architecture steps in.

This architecture provides a smart, scalable, layered approach to structuring and refining data so it becomes progressively more valuable and trustworthy as it advances through each stage. The GAINS DEO platform uses this architecture to build a strong foundation for its high-confidence decision-making when it comes to using AI agents and machine learning applications like lead time prediction, demand forecasting, or inventory optimization.

Breaking down the Medallion Architecture

Bronze: Raw, Ingested Data

Collected from various sources—ERPs, third-party systems, IoT devices, logistics feeds, etc. The Bronze layer is where the data first lands and is then stored in its original form. This layer captures what’s actually happening in the business— it may seem messy, but it is essential in providing full visibility into what’s coming, even before it’s been validated or cleaned.

Silver: Clean, Enriched, and Structured

Here, the raw data is cleaned, de-duplicated, and formatted. Think of this as turning raw ingredients into something usable. This layer is where we begin to apply business logic, join tables, and standardize values across systems. This is where we make the data consistent and trustworthy, the Silver layer gives us confidence in the data when feeding it into ML models and making real-time decisions.

Gold: Optimized for Analytics and AI

In the Gold layer, at last the data becomes actionable. It is aggregated, modeled, and ready to power predictive analytics and optimization engines like those in GAINS DEO. Gold is the layer that connects your data to real business outcomes. Gold-level data is decision-ready. This is where we pull insights that help a planner to say with confidence: ‘Let’s hold off on this PO,’ or ‘It’s time to shift our stocking strategy.’

High-Volume, High-Velocity, High-Value

Speed and clarity matter more than ever—and that’s exactly where the GAINS architecture excels. With our layered, decision-ready approach, we’re able to:

• Ingest complex, high-volume data from any source – ERP, WMS, third-party platforms, you name it.
• Standardize, enrich, and validate at scale, so teams aren’t stuck second-guessing the numbers.
• Deliver timely, trusted insights that planners and executives can act on confidently and quickly.

Collecting data is not just about having data for data’s sake—it is about turning the information you are already collecting and turning it into something valuable, meaningful, and actionable.

GAINS simplifies complexity without overwhelming your teams, making for better decisions, at a faster pace, without sacrificing quality or control. This approach gives your supply chain team the foundation they need to manage risk, drive efficiency, and stay ahead of change, with less friction.

Making Data Easier to Manage and Safer to Use

Another feature that sets Databricks apart is its Unity Catalog, which simplifies how we govern and protect data across platforms and cloud systems. Acting as a secure control center, helping supply chain leaders ensure the right people have access to the right data, while keeping everything compliant, trackable, and well-organized.

With built-in auditing, supply chain leaders can see who accessed what, when, and why. Lineage tracking makes it easier to understand how data flows from source to insight. And with clearly defined permissions, we make sure sensitive information stays secure.

Ultimately, this method leads to fewer delays, less risk, and more confidence when making decisions that impact your business.

Making Data Work Harder with ELT and Seamless Pipelines

Databricks also powers our ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) processes—allowing us to move and prepare data more efficiently. Unlike traditional ETL methods, ELT lets us land raw data first and then transform it closer to the point of use. This enables real-time anomaly detection, faster analytics, and more flexible integration with third-party tools.

For GAINS clients, that translates to better data flow, faster time to insight, and fewer roadblocks between planning and action.

Fueling Smarter Predictions with Machine Learning

Within our ML architecture, Databricks play a critical role in training and running predictive models that help our users make more risk-aware decisions. Tools like ML flow allow us to build, test, and deploy models that are directly embedded into our DEO workflows—from strategic planning to daily execution.

That means companies don’t just see what’s happening—they can respond proactively, adjust in real time, and continually improve outcomes. Whether you’re fine-tuning inventory levels or responding to disruptions, these insights lead to faster action and better results.

Transforming Supply Chain Decisions—One Step at a Time

At GAINS, we believe that making improvements to your supply chain operations doesn’t have to be disruptive. By embedding Databricks into our DEO platform, we help our clients unlock value quickly, driving measurable results without waiting years for transformation.

Every enhancement we make to data pipelines, governance, and AI modeling brings us closer to what matters most: helping our customers fulfill promises, balance trade-offs, and stay profitable—even when the world around them is anything but predictable.

Let’s Build the Supply Chain of Tomorrow—Today

GAINS is committed to helping supply chain leaders move with confidence, even in uncertain times. By integrating Databricks into our data strategy, we’re creating new ways for companies to gain visibility, act faster, and improve continuously.

Because in a world where change is the only constant, the advantage goes to those who can adapt—and do it well.

Contact GAINS today, and together, we can make uncertainty an advantage.

Move Forward Faster. Drive Results. Engineer Your Advantage.