Unlocking the Power of Microsoft Purview
A Complete Data Governance Solution
In today’s data-driven world, organisations are constantly seeking ways to manage, secure and extract value from their data. For businesses that are already heavily invested in Microsoft technologies, Microsoft Purview is a game-changing tool. As an expert in data solutions the team at Novon has extensive experience implementing Purview. Let’s explore its benefits, challenges and how organisations can make the most of this tool to streamline data management, protect sensitive information and ensure compliance.
What is Microsoft Purview?
Microsoft Purview is an integrated data governance and risk management solution designed to help organisations manage and secure their data estates, whether they’re on-premise, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments. It provides a unified platform for data discovery, classification, cataloguing and auditing. If your organisation is already using other Microsoft technologies—like Azure, Microsoft 365 or Power BI—Purview integrates seamlessly, leveraging your existing investments in the Microsoft ecosystem.
1. Data Quality and Complexity
One of the biggest challenges for organisations is ensuring that their data is accurate, complete and up to date. Poor data quality can undermine the effectiveness of Purview’s data classification and governance tools. Implementing Purview requires thorough data cleansing and validation to ensure accurate data mapping.
2. Complexity of Legacy Systems
Many organisations have complex IT environments with a mix of legacy systems and modern cloud based solutions. Integrating these diverse systems into Microsoft Purview can be a technical challenge, particularly for businesses with outdated or unsupported systems. In these cases, a phased approach to implementation is often required, alongside robust data migration strategies.
3. Skill Gaps
Successfully implementing Microsoft Purview requires expertise in data governance, security and Microsoft technologies. For many organisations, these skills may not exist in-house. Without the right knowledge and experience, there’s a risk that Purview will not be set up optimally, limiting its effectiveness.
1. Streamlined Data Management
Purview’s data governance tools simplify the management of large, complex data estates,offering a single pane of glass for viewing and controlling your data across different environments. This means less time spent on manual data management and more time using data to drive business outcomes.
2. Reduced Compliance Risks
With data protection regulations constantly evolving, organisations need to stay on top of compliance. Purview helps you automatically identify and protect sensitive data, reducing the risk of non-compliance and avoiding costly fines or reputational damage.
3. Maximising Existing Investments
If your organisation already uses Microsoft 365, Azure or Power BI, implementing Purview allows you to leverage the full value of your existing technologies. By integrating these tools into a single platform, Purview enhances data visibility, security and collaboration without requiring significant new investments.
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Government organisation who had recently undertaken an audit on their data governance and was found their maturity was low
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Challenge was poor visibility on existing data assets, lots of manual handling and processing of data both within established platforms, but also data exposed through Excel and several reporting platforms
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Business users heavily reliant on a small data & analytics team to source data and/or report on it
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Sensitive data was not clearly identified and was often shared with no controls
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A greenfield site requiring establishing a Data Governance practice, defining appropriate policies and controls, and determination of a tool to help manage and report on their data assets
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Data Governance Principal consultants – to lead the conversation around Data Governance in general and assist in
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Azure Cloud Engineers – to establish Purview within the client’s Microsoft tenancy
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Data Focused Business Analysts – to work across the requirements gathering and document the requirements.
