“Achieving great data governance standards is not only a possibility, it is also a responsibility. Technology’s potential is, and always must be, rooted in the faith people have in it” – Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
In 2023, over 8 billion data breaches occurred, underscoring the critical need for robust data governance. Recognizing this urgency, more than 65% of data leaders prioritized data governance in 2024.
Data is not only an invaluable source for organizations but can also be a liability if not handled well and protected from cyberattacks. While it has the potential to grow your business and amplify your revenue, it can even turn things upside down in the blink of an eye.
With the growing demand for data-driven decision making, businesses these days are collecting, and generating huge amounts of data. While this data can be extremely useful, it can also be a tough challenge to tackle it efficiently. This is where effective data governance plays a crucial role.
Microsoft Purview, the current talk of the town, promises to be a highly advanced and efficient data governance solution which is being increasingly employed by organizations all over the world. Let’s learn about what actually this Microsoft Purview is, and how it is different and effective from other popular data governance tools and technologies in the market.
What is Microsoft Purview?
Microsoft Purview is a ground-breaking data governance solution that can help your organization govern, protect, and manage data. Even in this age of AI, Purview helps businesses safeguard their data. It aids in giving enterprises complete control over their data, allowing them to manage it efficiently while reducing potential security risks and meeting compliance requirements.
It is a unified suite for data governance, security, and risk management. Microsoft Purview enables you to discover, classify, and manage your data assets across your entire organization, whether they are located on-premises or in the cloud. It also stands as a unique solution that’s inherently compatible with Microsoft Copilot within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
Purview provides integrated coverage and helps address data fragmentation problems across organizations. It is designed to give you visibility into assets across your entire data estate. And, help you leverage that visibility to manage end-to-end data risks and regulatory compliance in a new, more comprehensive, and simpler way.
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15 Distinguishing Features of Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a data governance solution that helps organizations manage their data across on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) environments. Some of the important features that distinguish Purview from other data governance solutions are as follows:
1. Data Governance
Microsoft Purview offers a comprehensive toolset for data governance, including automated data discovery, sensitive data classification, and policy management.
It allows you to create a holistic, up-to-date map of your data estate and make sure that your data is compliant with regulatory requirements.
2. Unified Data Discovery
Purview offers a unified approach to data discovery. It allows you to easily access and make sense of data across your entire data estate, saving you a lot of time and effort.
With Purview, you can find data from on-premises databases, cloud databases, SaaS data, and any other data source or platform.
3. Efficient Data Cataloging
Purview’s centralized data catalog allows you to easily manage and organize your data assets. One can create a business glossary, manage metadata, and track data lineage and impact analysis, with the help of Purview.
4. Data Lineage and Impact Analysis
Another standout feature of Purview is its ability to provide end-to-end data lineage and impact analysis. This allows you to track data flow across your data estate.
Purview makes it easy to identify data source, trace its lineage, and comprehend its impact on downstream systems.
5. Risk and Compliance Management
Purview’s comprehensive set of tools for risk and compliance management include data classification, policy management, and data protection.
These tools will ensure that your data is compliant with regulatory requirements and protect it from unauthorized access.
6. Audit & Alert Capabilities
Microsoft Purview’s audit functionality provides granular visibility into your organization’s data activities with detailed logging and customizable retention policies. From tracking user interactions to documenting system changes, the platform maintains comprehensive audit trails that support forensic investigations and regulatory compliance.
Advanced alerting mechanisms notify stakeholders of suspicious activities, enabling prompt response to potential security incidents.
7. Communication Compliance
Built with AI-powered detection, the Communication Compliance feature proactively monitors interactions across Teams, Exchange, Yammer, and third-party platforms. It automatically identifies inappropriate content, harassment, sensitive information sharing, and regulatory violations.
Organizations can enforce communication policies while maintaining employee privacy, with customizable workflows for review and remediation of policy violations.
8. Compliance Manager
Transform complex regulatory requirements into actionable tasks with Compliance Manager’s intelligent assessment tools. Through continuous monitoring and pre-built assessments for major regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001), organizations can track their compliance posture in real-time.
The solution provides a quantifiable compliance score and prioritized recommendations to strengthen your regulatory stance.
9. Data Lifecycle Management
Take control of your data from creation to disposal with automated lifecycle policies. This feature enables organizations to classify, retain, and dispose of data based on regulatory requirements and business needs.
Automated retention labels and policies ensure consistent governance across all content, while defensible disposition helps manage regulatory obligations.
10. Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Protect sensitive information across your digital estate with intelligent DLP policies. The system automatically identifies, monitors, and protects sensitive data through content inspection, contextual analysis, and machine learning.
Real-time policy enforcement prevents data leaks across Microsoft 365 apps, cloud services, on-premises environments, and endpoints.
11. Adaptive Protection
Experience dynamic security that evolves with your risk landscape. Adaptive Protection uses machine learning to analyze user behavior patterns and automatically adjusts security controls based on risk levels.
This intelligent approach ensures optimal protection while maintaining productivity, automatically strengthening controls when suspicious activities are detected.
12. eDiscovery
Streamline legal and internal investigations with powerful eDiscovery tools. From initial case creation to final production, manage the entire discovery process within a single platform.
Advanced search capabilities, predictive coding, and automated workflows help teams efficiently identify, preserve, and analyze relevant content while maintaining chain of custody.
Safeguard sensitive data throughout its lifecycle with automated classification and protection. Using AI-powered pattern recognition and content analysis, Information Protection automatically identifies and labels sensitive information.
Persistent protection travels with your data, ensuring consistent security across devices, apps, and platforms.
14. Insider Risk Management
Combat internal threats with advanced behavioral analytics and risk scoring. This feature uses machine learning to detect anomalous activities that may indicate data theft, leaks, or security violations.
Custom risk indicators, investigation tools, and integrated response workflows help security teams quickly identify and address insider threats.
15. Unified Data Governance
Centralize data governance across your entire data estate through a single, powerful platform. With AI-enhanced cataloging, sophisticated metadata management, and automated data discovery, organizations can easily locate, understand, and maximize their data assets.
Native integration with analytics tools enables secure data democratization while maintaining governance controls.
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Microsoft Purview vs Collibra vs ServiceNow
| Feature | Microsoft Purview | Collibra | ServiceNow |
| Primary Focus | Unified data governance across multi-cloud and hybrid environments | Enterprise data intelligence and governance platform | IT service management (ITSM) with data governance as an extension |
| Unique Capabilities | AI-driven data discovery, classification, and lineage across AWS, Azure, on-prem | Focus on data stewardship, business glossaries, and policy management | Strong workflow automation and integration with ITSM tools |
| Data Governance | End-to-end governance with automated scanning, classification, and policy enforcement | Policy-driven governance with manual interventions | Robust framework for managing data quality, ownership, and security |
| Data Lineage & Cataloging | Automated end-to-end lineage with AI-enhanced metadata | Manual mapping with strong visualization | Basic lineage with focus on service dependencies |
| Regulatory Compliance | Built-in compliance for GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, SOX, Basel III and more | Strong compliance features with policy enforcement and audit trails | Strong compliance tracking tied to ITSM |
| Data Security & Risk | Real-time risk analytics with automated sensitivity labeling | Rule-based security controls | Comprehensive security integrated with GRC |
| AI & Automation | Leverages Azure’s AI services for automated data discovery, classification, and lineage | AI-powered governance, but costly for automation | Gen AI powered governance innovations for its NOW platform |
| Cost-Effectiveness | Pay-as-you-go, cost-effective for Microsoft-heavy banks | Subscription-based, higher cost for large banks | Expensive due to ITSM focus, not ideal for financial data governance |
| Scalability | Highly scalable for enterprises with multi-cloud and hybrid setups | Scalable for enterprise governance but complex to implement | Scalable due to its cloud-based architecture |
| Best Suitability for AWS | Native AWS integration with unified management | Strong AWS connectivity but separate tools needed | Basic AWS integration through connectors |
Why MS Purview is a Good Choice for AWS-Heavy Organizations
1. Native AWS Integration
Despite being a Microsoft product, Purview offers native AWS integration with deep scanning capabilities for services like S3, Redshift, and RDS – often matching Collibra’s AWS connectivity while providing smoother cross-cloud governance.
2. Unified Multi-Cloud Management
When using both AWS and Microsoft services, Purview eliminates the need for multiple governance tools by providing unified visibility and consistent policies across both environments through a single pane of glass.
3. Intelligent Automation
Purview’s automated data discovery and AI-powered classification capabilities work seamlessly with AWS resources, reducing the manual effort typically required with Collibra’s implementation in AWS environments.
4. Cost Optimization
Microsoft Purview follows a pay-as-you-go model, meaning organizations pay only for what they use, unlike Collibra’s subscription-based pricing, which can be expensive.
5. Future-Proof Architecture
Purview’s real-time data mapping and automated lineage tracking can handle complex AWS architectures while providing additional capabilities for future hybrid cloud scenarios, offering more flexibility than Collibra’s approach.
Use Cases of Microsoft Purview
1. Review Office Message Encrypted (OME) Emails
Microsoft Purview allows legal, HR, or other professionals to review Office Message Encrypted (OME) emails within Purview eDiscovery. This involves leveraging the data discovery and classification capabilities of Purview to identify and catalog OME emails across various data sources, including Office 365 and other repositories. Once identified, Purview can apply automated classification to these emails based on sensitivity and compliance requirements, enabling organizations to enforce appropriate access controls and data protection measures.
2. Scan Documents in OneDrive
Microsoft Purview can be employed for scanning OneDrive as part of its data discovery and classification capabilities. By integrating with OneDrive, Purview can automatically scan and catalog the data stored within OneDrive accounts, providing organizations with a comprehensive view of their data assets. This is particularly beneficial for organizations seeking to gain visibility into the types of data stored in OneDrive, classify the data based on sensitivity, and enforce data governance policies
Microsoft Purview’s metadata management capabilities enable organizations to automatically scan, catalog, and track metadata from diverse data sources. By doing so businesses can gain comprehensive insights into data lineage, origins, and transformations. By standardizing and enriching metadata, Purview ensures consistency and accuracy, supporting data governance and compliance efforts. Additionally, effective metadata management facilitates data analysis and insights, empowering organizations to make informed decisions based on a clear understanding of data structures and relationships.
4. Design Communication Compliance Policies
Using Microsoft Purview, organizations can design communication compliance policies by leveraging its data discovery and classification capabilities to gain insights into communication data. This includes monitoring and enforcing policies for email, instant messaging, and collaboration platforms to ensure compliance with industry regulations. By aligning communication practices with data protection laws and internal governance standards, organizations can mitigate risks and safeguard sensitive information, thereby promoting secure and compliant communication practices.
Industry Applications of Microsoft Purview
1. Financial Services Compliance
Financial institutions face stringent regulatory requirements like GDPR, CCPA, and FINRA. Microsoft Purview automates compliance processes by continuously monitoring data handling practices, automatically classifying sensitive financial information, and maintaining detailed audit trails of all data activities.
- Automated detection and protection of customer financial records and PII
- Real-time monitoring of communication channels for regulatory violations
- Streamlined reporting for regulatory audits with pre-built templates
2. Healthcare Data Management
Healthcare organizations must balance patient data accessibility with strict HIPAA compliance. Purview provides comprehensive visibility into protected health information (PHI) across all systems while ensuring appropriate access controls and data handling procedures.
- Automated PHI detection and HIPAA-compliant data governance
- Secure collaboration between healthcare providers with audit trails
- Integrated data lifecycle management for patient records
3. Retail Data Analytics
Retailers handling vast amounts of customer and transaction data need to ensure data quality for analytics while maintaining privacy standards. Purview enables secure data democratization while maintaining governance controls.
- Unified view of customer data across physical and digital channels
- Protected sharing of sales data with vendors and partners
- Automated classification of customer preferences and purchase patterns
4. Manufacturing Supply Chain
Manufacturing companies managing complex supply chains need visibility into data flowing between partners, suppliers, and internal systems. Purview provides end-to-end data tracking and protection.
- Secure sharing of technical specifications with suppliers
- Real-time tracking of intellectual property across partner networks
- Automated compliance with international trade regulations
5. Research and Development
Organizations conducting R&D need to protect intellectual property while enabling collaboration. Purview helps secure sensitive research data while facilitating necessary information sharing.
- Protection of patent-related documentation and research data
- Controlled access to proprietary formulas and designs
- Tracking of research data usage across departments
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6. Mergers and Acquisitions
During M&A activities, organizations need to manage sensitive data integration while maintaining compliance. Purview provides visibility and control during complex data migrations.
- Discovery and mapping of data assets across both organizations
- Protection of confidential business information during due diligence
- Automated policy enforcement during systems integration
7. Global Marketing Operations
Marketing teams handling customer data across multiple regions need to ensure compliance with various privacy regulations. Purview enables compliant data usage across marketing activities.
- Automated compliance with regional privacy requirements
- Protected sharing of customer insights across teams
- Tracking of customer consent and preference management
8. IT Infrastructure Management
IT teams managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments need unified data governance. Purview provides centralized control across diverse infrastructure.
- Single-pane visibility into data across cloud and on-premises systems
- Automated discovery and classification of sensitive data
- Unified access control across multiple platforms
9. Human Resources
HR departments handling sensitive employee information need robust data protection and compliance measures. Purview ensures secure handling of personnel data.
- Protection of employee personal information
- Compliant handling of performance reviews and compensation data
- Secure management of recruitment and onboarding documentation
10. Legal Operations
Legal teams need efficient eDiscovery and documentation management capabilities. Purview streamlines legal operations while maintaining security.
- Streamlined eDiscovery process for litigation support
- Protected sharing of case-related documentation
- Automated retention policies for legal documents
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5 Key Benefits of Microsoft Purview
1. Improved Data Collaboration
Microsoft Purview’s centralized data catalog helps enhance data collaboration by facilitating data access to different teams across your organization. This fosters better communication and collaboration between teams, leading to better decision-making and efficient workflows.
2. Real-time Insights and Monitoring
With its real-time insights and data monitoring capabilities, Microsoft Purview allows you to track data usage, identify potential issues, and take corrective actions. This feature ensures that your data is always up-to-date, accurate, and secure, all the time.
3. Workflow Automation
Microsoft Purview reduces manual efforts by automating various data management tasks, such as data discovery, classification, and lineage tracking. This saves time and allows your team to focus on more strategic tasks.
4. Scalability and Integration
Microsoft Purview is highly scalable and has the capability of large volumes of data efficiently. It also integrates with other Microsoft services, such as Azure Data Factory and Power BI, as well as third-party services, making it easy to incorporate into your existing data infrastructure.
5. Cost Effectiveness
By streamlining data management processes and automating many manual and redundant tasks. Microsoft Purview can minimize your operational costs significantly. It also eliminates the need for multiple data management tools, reducing licensing and maintenance costs.
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Microsoft Purview Implementation Guide
Prerequisites
Before implementing Microsoft Purview, organizations need to ensure they meet fundamental requirements for a successful deployment. A thorough assessment of your environment and resources is crucial for smooth implementation.
1. System Requirements
- Azure subscription with sufficient privileges
- Network connectivity: Minimum 50 Mbps dedicated bandwidth
- Supported operating systems: Windows Server 2016 or later
- Compatible data sources (Azure SQL, Oracle DB, SAP, etc.)
- Minimum of 16GB RAM and 4 core processor for scanner deployment
2. Licensing Considerations
Microsoft Purview licensing operates on a tiered model based on organization size and feature requirements.
- Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance or Security (for compliance features)
- Azure Purview Units (APUs) for data scanning and processing
- Additional licenses for specific features like eDiscovery or Information Protection
- Optional add-on licenses for advanced features
3. Required Permissions and Roles
Organizations must establish proper role-based access control (RBAC) before implementation.
Setup Process
1. Initial Configuration
- The setup begins with establishing your Purview account and configuring basic settings.
- Create Microsoft Purview account in Azure portal
- Configure network settings and firewalls
- Set up authentication methods
- Establish initial governance policies
2. Data Source Connection
Connecting data sources requires careful planning and sequential implementation:
- Register data sources through the Purview Portal
- Configure authentication methods for each source
- Set up connection strings and access credentials
- Test connections before full deployment
3. Scanner Deployment
- Scanners are crucial for data discovery and classification:
- Install self-hosted integration runtime
- Configure scanner credentials
- Set up scan rules and triggers
- Deploy in phases, starting with pilot sources
4. Classification Rules Setup
Effective classification is key to data governance:
- Define custom classification rules
- Configure pattern matching and keywords
- Set up sensitivity labels
- Establish classification hierarchies
Best Practices
1. Recommended Configurations
A well-planned configuration ensures optimal performance:
- Implement role-based access control from day one
- Use collection hierarchies for logical organization
- Enable incremental scanning for large datasets
- Configure automated classification where possible
2. Security Considerations
Security should be embedded throughout the implementation:
- Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud integration
- Implement least-privilege access principles
- Configure encryption for data at rest and in transit
- Regular security audit and monitoring setup
To maintain system efficiency:
- Schedule scans during off-peak hours
- Optimize scanner configurations based on data volume
- Monitor system resources and adjust as needed
- Implement caching strategies for frequently accessed data
4. Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Learn from these frequently encountered challenges:
- Over-complicated classification schemes
- Insufficient network bandwidth allocation
- Lack of proper change management
- Inadequate user training and documentation
5. Implementation Timeline
A typical enterprise implementation follows this timeline:
Planning and Prerequisites (2-4 weeks)
- Initial Setup and Configuration (1-2 weeks)
- Data Source Integration (2-4 weeks)
- Testing and Validation (2-3 weeks)
- User Training and Rollout (2-4 weeks)
Remember to:
- Build in time for user adoption and training
- Start with a pilot program
- Document all configurations
- Establish clear KPIs for success
- Plan for regular maintenance and updates
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Kanerika: Your Ideal Choice for Efficient Implementation of Microsoft Purview
Kanerika, a leader in data and AI solutions, is dedicated to improving enterprise security and operational efficiency through customized, high-impact services. During times where AI-driven data threats are increasing, safeguarding sensitive information is more critical than ever. As a certified Microsoft data and AI solutions partner, we harness the power of Microsoft Purview to deliver comprehensive data protection and governance solutions that seamlessly align with your existing workflows.
Our expertise in Purview implementation ensures that your organization’s data is effectively classified, monitored, and secured across all business functions. From identifying potential risks to enforcing compliance policies, we equip your team with the tools needed to manage data confidently. With Kanerika, you gain more than just robust data governance—you achieve a secure, compliant, and future-ready digital ecosystem that drives long-term business success.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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