Get control of your data governance with Microsoft Purview

Data is crucial for large financial institutions today, and at the same time it is an area with stricter regulatory requirements. Authorities require companies to be able to document where their data comes from, how it is used, and that it is of the right quality. Without a solid data governance strategy, it can quickly become an overwhelming task – and a potential risk.

Effective data governance is not just about compliance. It is also a prerequisite for creating business value through data. Microsoft Purview is a powerful platform that helps organizations understand, structure, and secure their data across systems and departments.

What is Microsoft Purview?

In short, Microsoft Purview is a comprehensive data governance platform that enables organizations to manage their data assets across on-premise, multi-cloud, and SaaS environments. It integrates functions for data lineage, data quality, and data cataloging, ensuring full traceability and transparency in data management.

Purview thus provides an integrated approach to data governance, through which you can gain overview and control over your data. Three crucial elements are:

• Data lineage:

  Provides a complete picture of how data moves through the organization – from the source, through transformations, to final use. This makes it easier to document data flows and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

• Data quality:

  Continuous monitoring of data quality identifies errors and inconsistencies, so that the organization can trust its data foundation when making business-critical decisions.

• Data products: Structures data as reusable and accessible products across the organization. This makes collaboration easier and ensures that the different teams work with valid and consistent data rather than fragmented versions.

As part of an organization, who need to comply with the Financial Supervisory Authority’s requirements to document data lineage and quality, where data is spread across multiple systems – from customer information in the CRM system to transaction data in, for example, a core banking platform. When authorities require insight into how a specific piece of data has been processed through the systems, it quickly becomes a very complex task.

The challenges:

• Lack of overview – Data is spread across silos, making it difficult to document data lineage.

• Uncertain data quality – Without central monitoring, it is difficult to ensure that data is accurate and up-to-date.

• Regulatory requirements – The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority requires detailed documentation of data handling and governance processes.

To address the mentioned challenges, you can choose to implement Microsoft Purview as your central data governance platform. Let’s take a look at the approach and what you can achieve:

1. Establishing data lineage – Purview is configured to automatically track data flows from primary source systems (e.g. core banking systems) to downstream applications (BI reports, risk models, etc.). This allows for full documentation of the origin and transformations of the data.

2. Improving data quality – By setting up rules and dashboards in Purview, you can continuously monitor data quality. This also includes automated checks for duplicates, missing values, and inconsistencies, ensuring high quality in data analysis and compliance reports.

3. Development of data products – By using Purview as a 'central data catalog,' you can define data products that ensure standardized, validated datasets that can be reused across departments. This creates a more efficient and cohesive data economy within the organization.

Results and benefits

After implementing Microsoft Purview, you are able to achieve:

• 100% traceability of data – The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority can be presented with a clear and well-documented data lineage.

• Improved data quality – Automated validation reduce errors and improve the reliability of reporting.

• Streamlined data management – The data is organized as products, which optimizes internal workflows.

Data governance as a business driver

For companies who wants to take control of their data while complying with regulatory requirements, Microsoft Purview is a powerful tool.

A strategic approach to data governance is not just about avoiding fines or regulatory issues – the right governance approach is also an opportunity to unlock the value of data, strengthen collaboration across the organization, and make faster, more accurate decisions.

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