Unlock the power of Microsoft Fabric to master data analytics in 2024 with our comprehensive guide. Elevate your data skills with Sparity's insights

1. Sparity Soft Technologies
www.sparity.com
Comprehensive Guide for Microsoft Fabric to Master Data Analy in 2024
Introduction
Microsoft Fabric serves as a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for enterprises,
encompassing a wide spectrum from data movement and data science to real-time analytics
and business intelligence. This blog offers insight into what Microsoft Fabric entails and how
we can use it to enhance our data needs.
What is Microsoft Fabric and What’s in it??
Microsoft Fabric is an integrated analytics solution for enterprises, offering data movement,
science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence in a unified platform. Built on a
Software as a Service (SaaS) foundation, it amalgamates components from Power BI, Azure
Synapse, and Azure Data Factory, providing shared experiences, centralized administration,
and a unified data lake. Fabric includes components like Data Engineering, Data Factory,
Data Science, Data Warehouse, Real-Time Analytics, and Power BI. The platform is
structured around OneLake, a data lake built on Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, eliminating
silos and enabling easy data sharing. It caters to ISVs with integration paths ranging from
basic connections to custom workload creation on the Fabric platform.
How to Enable Microsoft Fabric?
To enable Microsoft Fabric in Power BI for your organization, ensure prerequisites like
having admin roles such as Microsoft 365 Global admin, Power Platform admin, or Fabric
admin. Enable Microsoft Fabric for your entire tenant or a specific capacity through the
admin portal, allowing users to create Fabric items based on selected configurations. Security
groups can be utilized to control access. Consider that capacity admins can override tenant
settings. Disabling it restricts item creation but allows viewing permissions. Users without
Fabric access can still view items and icons in shared workspaces or capacities. Be mindful of
regional availability restrictions for Microsoft Fabric. Regularly check and manage settings
through the admin portal for optimal configuration.
Components of Power BI
A business intelligence tool by Microsoft called Power BI combines a multitude of data
services and connectors to produce an integrated set of visual insights from several data
sources. Along with Power BI Desktop for Windows and the Power BI online service, it also
includes mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows. Additional components include Power
BI Report Builder and Power BI Report Server. Depending on what they do, users access
different Power BI components. The workflows include connecting to Power BI Desktop data
sources, generating reports, and publishing them to the Power BI service for shared viewing.
Power BI Report Server allows deployment behind firewalls and supports on-premises report
administration.

2. Integration of OneLake in Fabric
OneLake, integrated with Microsoft Fabric, is a unified data lake designed for organizational
analytics, offering a single repository for diverse data types. Governed by default within
tenant boundaries, it supports collaborative distributed ownership through workspaces. Built
on Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen2, OneLake is open and compatible with existing
applications and APIs. The OneLake file explorer for Windows simplifies data lake
interaction. Emphasizing one copy of data, it facilitates cross-domain data connections
through shortcuts, eliminating unnecessary duplication. Multiple analytical engines, such as
T-SQL and Spark, operate on data stored in Delta Parquet format, ensuring flexibility and
efficiency without data movement. Users can use Power BI's Direct Lake mode for seamless
reporting.
Data Features and Data Flows in Data Factory
Data Factory provides a modern data integration experience, allowing users to ingest,
prepare, and transform data from various sources. Fast Copy facilitates quick data movement,
which is crucial for bringing data to the Lakehouse and Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric.
The two primary features are dataflows and pipelines. Dataflows offer a low-code interface
with over 300 transformations, supporting easy data ingestion and transformation. Built on
the Power Query experience, it empowers users from citizens to professional data integrators.
Data pipelines enable cloud-scale workflow capabilities, allowing the creation of complex
ETL workflows with control flow logic. The configuration-driven copy activity and support
for various data tasks make it a versatile tool for end-to-end ETL data pipelines.
Maintaining Infrastructure with Data Engineering
Data Engineering empowers users to construct and maintain infrastructures for efficient data
collection, storage, processing, and analysis. Key components include lakehouses for unified
structured and unstructured data management, Apache Spark job definitions facilitating
batch/streaming job execution on Spark clusters, interactive notebooks for code creation and
sharing in various languages, and data pipelines crucial for reliable and scalable data
movement and transformation. This comprehensive suite ensures accessible, organized, and
high-quality data, with lakehouses supporting SQL-based queries, analytics, machine
learning, and advanced analytics techniques.
Structure of Data Science
Microsoft Fabric in Data Science streamlines end-to-end workflows, enabling users to
explore, clean, and model data for enriched insights. It facilitates seamless collaboration
between business analysts and data scientists. In problem formulation, collaboration is
enhanced, while data discovery involves OneLake integration for efficient data interaction.
The exploration phase utilizes tools like Apache Spark and Python, with Data Wrangler for
cleansing. Experimentation leverages PySpark, MLflow, and SynapseML for scalable
machine learning. Notebooks handle batch scoring, with results easily shared through Power
BI reports. The preview feature, Semantic Link, bridges the gap between Power BI semantics
and Synapse Data Science, fostering collaboration and accelerating productivity.

3. Data Warehouse for Greater Control
Microsoft Fabric offers a lake-centric data warehouse in two distinct experiences: the SQL
analytics endpoint and the Warehouse. The SQL analytics endpoint is a read-only,
automatically generated warehouse for T-SQL querying, supporting views and procedures. It
is part of the Lakehouse, facilitating data engineering and Spark usage. In contrast, the
Warehouse is a traditional data warehouse with full T-SQL capabilities, supporting
transactions, DDL, and DML queries. Both leverage open data formats, such as Delta, and
offer autonomous workload management. Virtual warehouses with cross-database querying
enable seamless integration of diverse data sources. The Warehouse provides greater control
and flexibility, while the SQL analytics endpoint offers simplicity and ease of use.
Streamlining Real Time Analytics
Real-Time Analytics in Microsoft Fabric simplifies data integration, enabling scalable
analytics for diverse users. It offers quick insights through automatic streaming, indexing,
and on-demand visualizations. Its unique features include real-time event capture, versatile
data structure support, and seamless Fabric integration. Industries like finance and
transportation benefit across various applications. Users leverage it for high-freshness data,
transforming streaming data, and querying large datasets with low latency. Integration with
Eventstream, KQL database, and Power BI facilitates end-to-end analysis.
Automated actions through Data Activator
Data Activator, currently in preview on Microsoft Fabric, offers a no-code experience for
automated actions based on changing data patterns. It monitors Power BI reports and
Eventstreams, triggering actions like alerts or Power Automate workflows on specified
thresholds or patterns. Users can create a digital nervous system without relying on IT or
developers, addressing issues like declining sales, proactive logistics management, and
customer retention. Core concepts include Events (data streams), Objects (monitored
entities), Triggers (conditions for actions), and Properties (reuseable logic). This empowers
business users to self-serve, reducing dependence on costly internal teams for monitoring and
alerting solutions.
Copilot Generative AI’s Capabilities
Microsoft Fabric's Copilot in preview offers AI-enhanced tools for data science, data
engineering, and Power BI. It facilitates code completion, automates tasks, and provides
templates for data professionals. Copilot follows responsible AI standards, storing customer
data for 30 days on Azure OAI. Admins must enable Copilot, and users should review
outputs for accuracy. It currently performs best in English, with potential limitations in other
languages. Prebuilt AI services are available in specific Azure regions. Check out our
comprehensive guide to Copilot in Power BI.
Fabric’s Retail Data Solutions
Microsoft Fabric's Retail Data Solutions empower retailers to enhance operational efficiency
and customer satisfaction by addressing challenges such as managing vast data volumes,
overcoming application silos, and ensuring real-time responsiveness. Through a standardized
data model, connectors, and business intelligence capabilities, retailers can unify and analyze

4. diverse data sources, driving insights for inventory optimization, customer segmentation, and
dynamic pricing. Additional features include a retail industry data model, Copilot template
for personalized shopping, Sitecore OrderCloud connector, and frequently bought together
recommendations, enabling retailers to make strategic decisions and deliver exceptional value
in a competitive market.
Conclusion
As Microsoft Fabric already hits the market, businesses can leverage its capabilities for all
their data requirements. While Fabric makes our work easy, we cannot perform every single
task with Copilot; you need an expert team of data engineers who are skilled in Fabric and
Power BI. Sparity will be your perfect partner who is an expert in data science, data
engineering, and data visualization, leveraging Power BI with our expert Power BI team.
Contact us today for all your data requirements.