How Microsoft Purview is Changing the Data Governance Game

As business information continues to grow at an exponential rate, data governance leaders need to find ways to easier track and manage information across the enterprise. Microsoft Purview (formerly Azure Purview) is rising to the challenge with a suite of unified data governance solutions designed to give organizations and employees better visibility into information across the entire data estate.  

What is Microsoft Purview Governance?

Microsoft Purview is a governance portal that provides a unified approach to data governance, helping you manage information from all sources across your organization including on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). Designed to address the common challenges with data governance, Purview gives organizations holistic insight into their entire data estate, ensuring you get the greatest value out of your information.  

How Purview Works  

By providing a cloud-based service where organizations can register data sources—which are then copied with indexed metadata into Purview—information becomes easily discoverable via search, enabling users to locate and comprehend data at their fingertips.  

Let’s break it down into a real-life scenario.

Take for example an organization that has two human resources teams—one in Canada and one in the U.S. Because the two teams manage different sets of employee groups, they have different methods and locations for storing information.  

For the sake of our scenario, say an HR advisor from the Canadian team is searching for a social media policy in her team’s SharePoint folder. Little does she know that her U.S. teammates created the policy years back, but it’s stored in a separate folder she wouldn’t think to look in. Without Purview, she may unnecessarily duplicate efforts and create an entirely new policy from scratch. With Purview, that HR advisor could search for keywords, revealing information from sources across the enterprise that she previously didn’t know existed.  

The reality is that organizations will always have various data sources and scattered information—but with Purview’s purpose-built apps layered across a holistic map of your data estate, you’re enabled with information discovery, access management, and insights about your data.  

The Four Components of Microsoft Purview Governance

Built over Apache Atlas, an open-source data governance and metadata framework, Purview consists of four components: data map, data catalogue, data estate insights, and data sharing.

Data Map

Providing the foundation for effective data governance, Purview Data Map is a cloud native PaaS service. With Data Map, you can:

• Capture metadata across on-premises, SaaS, and cloud-based sources  
• Business users can configure and use the map through an intuitive UI  

• Developers can interact with the map using Apache Atlas 2.2 APIs

Read more about Data Map >  

Data Catalogue

The true benefit of Purview is making information easily discoverable, which is where the Data Catalogue plays an important role. With Data Catalogue:  

• Business and technical users can search for information based with filters such as glossary terms, classifications, sensitivity labels and more  
• SMEs and data officers can automate tagging of data assets with glossary terms  
• Data consumers and producers can visually trace the lineage of data assets

Read more about Data Catalogue >  

Data Estate Insights

Purpose-built for chief data officers and other governance stakeholders, Data Estate Insights enables you to:  

• Gain actionable insights into gaps in information governance
• Take a holistic look at the entire data estate  
• View catalogue usage and adoption  

Read more about Data Estate Insights >  

Data Sharing

If the name didn’t give it away, Data Sharing enables you to securely share information both within and outside your organization. With Data Sharing, you can:

• Centrally manage and monitor data sharing relationships
• Revoke sharing if needed  

• Users can access received data with their own analytics tools, turning it into insights

Read more about Data Sharing >

Why Care? Because Purview Solves These Discovery Challenges  

The challenge with the traditional method of information discovery is that it’s mostly based on communal knowledge. With organizations becoming more physically dispersed and technologically complex, data consumers, producers and security administrators are all challenged in unique ways:  

• Without a central location to register information, data consumers may be unaware of a data sources, unsure of processes for requesting access to information, and confused about who to ask for that access  

• Responsible for managing and maintaining information, data producers are challenged to keep information in sync with data sources, restrict access to sensitive information, and ensure that consumers know who to request access from when they need it  

• With security an ever-growing concern for organizations, data security administrators are challenged to manage the proliferation of data as its stored and shared in new directions, identify and secure sensitive data, and ensure organizations remain compliant with policies and procedures

Microsoft Purview addresses these challenges head on and helps organizations ensure they’re getting maximum value from their stored data.  

Implementing Microsoft Purview Governance

The complexities of data governance and maintaining accessible [yet secure] information in the modern world of work can be overwhelming. With the right tools and team to support you, you’ll be set up for success.  

IX Solutions can help you assess your data governance needs and implement Microsoft Purview. To speak with one of our skilled IT consultants, contact us today.