Suranga Jude Nanayakkara is a Databricks Solution Architect Champion who will show how metadata captured in Databricks can become far more explorable and actionable when modelled as a knowledge graph in Neo4j. Unity Catalogue automatically captures lineage across data assets, including table-level and column-level relationships, and Databricks exposes lineage through system tables that teams can query for governance, troubleshooting, and impact analysis.
In this session, he will demonstrate how a Databricks engineer can take lineage metadata from system tables, transform it into a graph model, and load it into Neo4j to create a connected view of pipelines, tables, columns, and downstream dependencies. He will explain the graph modeling choices behind the approach, how Neo4j helps surface upstream and downstream impact, and why graph structures are a natural fit for metadata and master data problems that are difficult to understand in flat tables alone.
You will learn how to think about lineage as a graph, how Databricks and Neo4j can work together in a practical architecture, and how this pattern can support use cases such as impact analysis, root-cause investigation, governance visibility, and trusted data discovery. By the end of the session, you will leave with a concrete design pattern for turning lakehouse metadata into a navigable knowledge graph that brings operational and business context together in one place.
Speaker
Suranga Jude Nanayakkara
Bridging Software Engineering, Data Engineering & AI in real-world systems
Suranga Nanayakkara is a Data and AI Consultant currently working with the Datalytics team at Knowit, a leading Swedish consultancy. He specializes in building end-to-end data solutions, spanning Data Engineering, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence.
With a background that began in Software Engineering, Suranga transitioned into the data domain through his master’s studies and has since worked across the full data lifecycle — from designing scalable data pipelines and analytics platforms to developing data science and AI-driven solutions. This broad experience allows him to bridge the gap between engineering, analytics, and business needs.
Suranga holds a BSc from SLIIT (Sri Lanka) and an MSc from the University of Westminster (UK). He is a Microsoft Certified professional and a Trainer with a strong focus on Azure-based data and AI platforms, and hands-on experience with modern cloud analytics ecosystems.
As a speaker, Suranga enjoys sharing practical insights from real-world projects, focusing on how modern data and AI platforms can be designed, implemented, and scaled effectively.
