Building Real-Time Data Lakes for Financial Analysis 

Why Real-Time Matters in Finance 

Most CFOs are drowning in data but starving for insight. 

You're managing complex operations - bookings, forecasting, regulatory compliance - while your finance team juggles multiple tools, platforms, and dashboards that don't talk to each other. Sound familiar? That's because 90% of businesses in your situation face the same problem. 

Without real-time data access, you're making million-pound decisions based on last month's numbers. Your teams waste hours reconciling conflicting reports instead of analysing what matters. Meanwhile, your competitors with real-time visibility are already moving. 

What most businesses get wrong is thinking they need to live with this chaos. They don't. 

The solution isn't another dashboard or reporting tool. It's a single platform that holds everything and delivers the data you need in near real time. No more waiting for month-end reports. No more wondering if your numbers are right. 

Real-time data transforms decision-making from guesswork to science. When market conditions shift, you respond in hours, not weeks. When risks appear, you see them coming. When opportunities emerge, you're first to act. 

Microsoft Fabric eliminates the discrepancies between departments. Everyone works from the same numbers, reducing time spent reconciling conflicting reports. 

What is a Data Lake - and Why Microsoft Fabric? 

Let's cut through the jargon. A data lake stores everything - raw, unstructured, and structured data - in its original format until you need it. 

Traditional data warehouses? They only handle the structured stuff - about 20% of your business data. The other 80% of business data that actually drives decisions - documents, emails, images, videos - gets ignored. 

Data lakes handle it all. That's why they're perfect for AI, business intelligence, and automation across every type of data your business creates. 

Microsoft Fabric data types include everything from finance databases to HR spreadsheets, from CRM records to project files. It's designed for the real world where data comes in every format imaginable. 

Microsoft Fabric as a Unified Platform 

Microsoft Fabric is an end-to-end analytics platform that brings together Data Factory, Data Warehouse, , and Power BI into one place. 

No more fragmented tools. No more moving data around between systems. No more hoping your integrations work properly. 

Fabric provides OneLake - a single source of truth for your organisation. This eliminates the chaos, reduces data duplication, and enables both self-service and enterprise-scale analytics on the same platform. 

OneLake: One Place for Data 

OneLake serves as your organisation's single source of truth by centralising everything - structured and unstructured data - within Microsoft Fabric. 

This isn't just convenient. It's transformational. By centralising all your data, OneLake helps organisations become "AI ready" - ready to apply advanced analytics, business intelligence, and automation across 100% of your business data, not just the traditionally structured 20%. 

Microsoft Fabric vs Power BI: Power BI handles reporting and visualisation brilliantly, but Fabric goes further. It handles the entire data lifecycle from ingestion to insight, with Power BI as one integrated component. 

Ingesting Financial Data in Near Real-Time 

Microsoft Fabric connects directly to systems like Sage, Dynamics 365, NAV, or Business Central to create your single source of truth. 

Here's how it works: 

Data Flow Process 

Step 1: Data Extraction Your transactional data flows from Dynamics 365, NAV, or Business Central. Business Central, for example, connects directly for near real-time access. 

Step 2: Integration via Fabric Link or APIs Fabric Link automates data pipelines, eliminating manual intervention. APIs provide an alternative programmatic route for data extraction. Pipelines can integrate with your On-Premises systems. 

Step 3: Data Ingestion into Fabric Your data lands in Microsoft Fabric's unified data lake (OneLake), stored and ready for analytics without fragmented tools or data duplication. 

Step 4: Data Transformation and Analytics Once in Fabric, transform, model, and analyse using integrated tools like Power BI. Fabric supports everything from self-service to enterprise-scale analytics with built-in governance and security. 

Key Benefits of Microsoft Fabric's Real-Time Data 

Automated, Near Real-Time Data Pipelines: No more manual data refreshes. Information flows as it arrives, ensuring insights are always current. 

Unified Analytics Platform: One platform handles operational reporting and strategic dashboards. No switching tools or duplicating data. 

Reduced Manual Effort and Errors: Automation minimises human intervention, saving time and reducing mistakes. 

Scalable, Governed, and Secure: Built on Microsoft's trusted cloud infrastructure with enterprise-grade scalability, security, and compliance tools. 

Your finance team connects Business Central to Microsoft Fabric, enabling automated data flows for financial KPIs, dashboards, and analysis - all within a governed, visual platform. 

From Raw Data to Financial Insights 

Microsoft Fabric unifies data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence in one solution. Tools like Data Factory, Data Engineering, Lakehouse, and Power BI work together, not against each other. 

All data lives in OneLake - your single source of truth - eliminating data silos and duplication. 

Step-by-Step Transformation Using Spark Notebooks and SQL Procedures 

Step 1: Data Extraction and Ingestion Raw data from ERP, CRM, HR, Excel, and other sources flows into Microsoft Fabric using Data Factory pipelines or Dataflows, landing in OneLake. 

Step 2: Data Engineering and Transformation Spark Notebooks handle advanced data engineering - cleaning, transforming, and enriching raw data using Python, Scala, or SQL. SQL procedures work alongside Spark Notebooks for structured transformations and business logic. 

Step 3: Data Warehousing and Modelling Transformed data sits in a data warehouse within Fabric, ready for financial modelling. Semantic models created using Power BI enable financial metrics, hierarchies, and relationships. 

Step 4: Building Financial Models With clean, modelled data, build KPIs, dashboards, and management reports using Power BI. These models use the unified data foundation, ensuring consistency across all financial reporting. 

Step 5: Automation and Governance The entire process runs automatically, reducing manual intervention and errors. Built-in security and governance features protect data and control access at every stage. 

Powerful BI Integration 

Power BI integrates directly with Microsoft Fabric's OneLake, eliminating fragmented tools and excessive data movement. 

This integration enables automated data pipelines, reduces manual intervention, and ensures trusted, near real-time data. Data governance and security work at scale, using Microsoft Entra for access control and compliance. 

Power BI empowers users at all levels - from operational reporting to strategic dashboards - within a governed, repeatable framework. Connect to CRM, HR, and project systems, breaking down data silos for joined-up, cross-functional insights. 

Getting Started: CFO-Friendly Steps 

Start with a pilot project. Choose a specific financial challenge - automating budget tracking or improving forecasting accuracy. Test the waters, demonstrate value quickly, build confidence. 

Partner with IT to identify the financial metrics that matter most - cash flow, profit margins, cost centres. This translates financial requirements into technical specifications. 

Use existing Microsoft tools. Power BI creates dynamic dashboards, while Dynamics 365 Business Central manages financial operations. These integrate with Excel, reducing the learning curve. 

The Future Is Real-Time 

Microsoft Fabric licensing represents more than another tool in your tech stack. It's a platform that consolidates financial, operational, and customer data into a single, trusted view. 

Instead of waiting for month-end reports, CFOs act on live insights - reducing risk and improving agility. 

Ready to see the difference? We're here to have that conversation and show you how your business benefits. Get in touch. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

What are the Microsoft Fabric data types? 

Microsoft Fabric works with structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data through its integration with various Microsoft data services. This includes CRM data, HR records, project files, Excel documents, and more - making it suitable for diverse data types and business scenarios. 

What is Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse? 

Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse is part of Microsoft's next-generation data platform. It brings together data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence in one SaaS solution. The Lakehouse concept unifies data from various sources into OneLake, serving as your organisation's single source of truth. 

Microsoft Fabric vs Power BI: which is better? 

Power BI excels at reporting and dashboarding. Microsoft Fabric covers the complete data lifecycle from ingestion to insight, including data engineering, warehousing, and advanced analytics. 

You get the best of both worlds - Fabric unifies multiple analytics tools (including Power BI) into one platform.