The reference room
The full stack, in working order.
Twenty years of data work runs in one vertical: from executive scorecards, through pipelines and modeling, to the semantic layer and the AI systems that stand on it. The Library walks that stack — every layer with something you can read, and something you can operate.
5 layers, one vertical·2 systems you can operate·7 reference pages·A library, not a feed
No. 01 — The rooms
Three rooms, all open.
Each one is in the site navigation — this page is the map of how they fit together.
The cornerstone of the Field Guide: Governed AI Analytics — What it takes to let AI touch the numbers a business runs on.
No. 02 — The Stack
Five layers. The portal walks them the way the practice climbed them.
- L5
Governed AI systems
Agents with guardrails · grounded copilots · evaluation that proves correctness
The layer everyone wants — reliable only because of the four beneath it.
- L4
The semantic layer
Metric registries · definitions-as-code · semantic contracts, owned and versioned
The layer most companies skip — where numbers get their meaning, and keep it.
- L3
Medallion & modeling
Bronze → silver → gold · star schemas · tests that hold the line
Raw to conformed to consumable — with every promotion earned, not assumed.
- L2
Warehouse & ELT
Snowflake · BigQuery · dbt · pipelines and migrations that keep history intact
Data that moves without losing its meaning — including across platform migrations.
- L1
BI craft
Executive scorecards · KPI frameworks · dashboards leadership actually uses
Where the discipline started: making numbers legible enough to run a business on.
The Refinery shows how trust is built (L2–L4). The Working Model shows how trust is used (L5). Same discipline, opposite ends of the ladder.
No. 03 — Start Here
Four ways in, hand-ordered.
Not a feed — a reading order. Pick the question you arrived with.
Decide whether your environment is ready
The five-minute read on where AI helps you now — and where it will hallucinate.
See a governed system run
Don't read about the governed layer — operate it, then watch the same question fail without it.
Walk the pipeline that builds trust
One record, raw to governed to consumed — and the gate that catches a bad change.
Assess the practice itself
The principal's track record, the open-source work, and the patterns the practice is built on.
Read enough. Ready to look at your own environment?
Written once, kept current. Reference pages, not a feed. When the reading raises the question the Library can't answer — your environment — that's a working session.