Data Exchange
Medallion Architecture
Medallion architecture is a simple way to describe data moving through layers of increasing quality, usually bronze, silver, and gold.
Bronze, silver, and gold
Bronze is raw data, silver is validated and cleaned data, and gold is business-ready data. The pattern helps teams explain how data improves as it moves through layers of increasing quality.
Why it matters
It helps readers understand that data often needs to be improved before it becomes useful for reporting or AI. Raw source data is usually too messy, duplicate-heavy, or inconsistent to use directly.
Simple automotive example
A dealership group may ingest raw CRM, DMS, and service records into a bronze layer, clean and validate them in a silver layer, and then publish daily management views in a gold layer.
What it does not mean
It is not a business process or a governance policy by itself. It does not define who owns the data, who can access it, or whether a partner is allowed to receive it.