Frequently Asked Questions

For enterprise Azure and Fabric data engineers
What exactly does IRiS generate?

IRiS generates platform-native Lakehouse code for the Silver layer integration. The code is structured using Data Vault 2.1 methodology into Hubs, Links, and Satellites. Alongside the code, it produces a structured JSON metadata file capturing all modelling decisions, PII classifications, business definitions, entity ownership, and relationship structure. The JSON is the governance record of what was decided and why, not a by-product of code generation.

Does it target Fabric Lakehouse tables, Fabric Warehouse, notebooks, pipelines, or SQL endpoints?
IRiS generates platform-native Lakehouse code as SparkSQL that runs inside Fabric notebooks against a Lakehouse Delta table, deployed through your normal pipeline tooling. IRiS produces the code and the metadata that describes it; it does not impose its own runtime. The generated code is standard Fabric SQL, so it sits in your own notebooks, pipelines, and deployment workflow rather than running inside a separate IRiS engine
How are artefacts version-controlled?
IRiS integrates with your Git repository like Azure DevOps. Generated artefacts are committed to source control as part of the deployment workflow, giving teams full version history, branch management, and pull request review on every change to the data model.
How do artefacts move from development into test and production?
Generated artefacts are committed to a Git repository such as Azure DevOps as the first step, so promotion follows your existing branch and release model rather than anything IRiS-specific. From source control, the same artefacts are deployed through your CI/CD pipeline into test and then production using your standard environment promotion process. Because the output is plain platform code under version control, IRiS fits into the deployment path you already run. It does not introduce a parallel one.
How does IRiS handle schema drift and incremental loads?

IRiS detects the load pattern for each source and generates Satellites accordingly, following CDC, delta, snapshot, and full-load precedence.

In a modern cloud data platform, schema evolution is handled in your Bronze layer. IRiS supports updating your model to accommodate new attributes through its standard development process. In most cases, Data Vault's structure means satellites can be extended to accommodate new attributes without restructuring Hubs or Links. Changes are handled with only a few minutes of development effort.

How is lineage captured and emitted?

Lineage starts in the IRiS metadata itself, providing source, target, mapping, business key selection, ownership, relationship structure, and business definition for every artefact. This is the modelling-decision information that most tools never persist.

Because generated code is deployed through platform native services, the runtime data lineage is visible to lineage tools like Purview in the same way as any other platform workload.

What is the impact on Fabric capacity during a run?

An IRiS modelling run is metadata-only. The Assistant profiles source schemas, applies the Data Vault rules, and generates code. It does not move or transform data during modelling, so it is not a meaningful consumer of Fabric capacity.

Capacity is consumed when the generated load code runs in your environment. This is the same cost you would incur loading the Silver layer by any other means. IRiS is a development-time tool, not a continuously running production workload.

What does 'AI-assisted' mean here, specifically?
The IRiS Assistant applies AI at the modelling and metadata layer: source profiling, business key identification, relationship discovery, and decision capture. It does not generate generic SQL or act as a general-purpose code companion. The engineer retains control of all modelling decisions. The assistant accelerates the analysis and makes those decisions explicit and auditable.
How long does it take to go from source connection to a deployable model?

A single source table can be profiled, modelled, and have production-ready Lakehouse code generated in under 15 minutes.

The comparison point is the manual alternative: the same profiling, business key identification, Hub/Link/Satellite design, standards enforcement, and code authoring done by hand. That is a multi-hour task per source, even for an experienced modeller.

Is IRiS available through Microsoft procurement channels?
Yes. IRiS is listed on the Microsoft commercial marketplace and is eligible for MACC spending, meaning enterprise customers can apply marketplace purchases toward their committed Azure contracts. It also qualifies for IP Co-sell, which means Microsoft sellers can receive credit for introducing IRiS into a deal.

 

 

ignition-logo      IRiS is developed by Ignition. Follow the links below to learn more about Ignition.