Your current finance data setup is probably costing you more than it should. When you're juggling separate tools for ETL, data warehousing, and reporting, you're not just making life complicated - you're burning through budget and creating unnecessary risks.
Fragmented systems create data silos. Your finance team can't get the full picture, your reports don't match, and you're spending hours in meetings trying to work out which numbers are right. That's not efficiency - that's a train wreck waiting to happen.
The answer? A unified solution like Microsoft Fabric. Here's why finance teams need to pay attention to this platform and what it means for your data infrastructure.
What is Microsoft Fabric?
Microsoft Fabric is Microsoft's next-generation data platform that brings together data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence into a single SaaS solution.
What it does:
- Consolidates data across all your sources into OneLake for one version of the truth
- Connects directly with Power BI, and Excel, bringing insights right to your data
- Removes the need for separate tools, reducing data movement and duplication
- Supports both self-service analytics and enterprise-scale reporting on a secure, scalable platform
- Enables company-wide adoption of analytics with proper governance and security through Microsoft Entra
Microsoft Fabric integration stops conflicting reports and reduces data movement costs. No more arguing about which spreadsheet has the right numbers.
Microsoft Fabric Architecture: Lakehouse and Warehouse Working Together
Microsoft Fabric architecture unifies data engineering, data science, analytics, and business intelligence. The Lakehouse and warehouse work together within this platform, with OneLake as the foundation.
Lakehouse Role: Handles both structured and unstructured data, perfect for storing and processing large volumes of raw or semi-structured information before transformation.
Warehouse Role: Provides optimised, structured storage for high-performance analytics and business intelligence with fast, reliable querying.
How they work together:
- Data gets ingested and processed in the lakehouse, then transformed and loaded into the warehouse for high-performance analytics
- Power BI integration means insights are embedded with your data
- This approach removes tool fragmentation, whilst supporting both self-service and enterprise analytics
This setup breaks down barriers between departments and supports everything from raw data exploration to executive dashboards in one integrated environment.
Traditional ETL vs Microsoft Fabric: The Key Differences
Traditional ETL Problems:
Your current setup probably involves extracting data from various sources, transforming it, then loading it into a data warehouse. The problems:
- Multiple separate tools for extraction, transformation, and loading
- Constant data movement and duplication, leading to inefficiencies and errors
- Manual intervention often needed, creating bottlenecks
- Data governance becomes complex due to disparate systems
- Getting consistent reporting is difficult - different teams pull from different sources
Sometimes, companies don’t even have a traditional ETL they’re using Excel. Excel is brilliant for many things, but for handling and reporting on data? Not so much.
Microsoft Fabric's Unified Approach:
Integrated Pipelines:
- Native integration with Power BI and other Microsoft services
- Automated pipelines reduce manual intervention, minimising errors
- Data unified across sources, providing consistent reporting
- Supports both self-service and enterprise-scale analytics with proper governance
Shortcuts and Data Ingestion:
- Enable direct connectivity to various data sources (CRM, HR, project systems, Excel files)
- Dynamics 365 CRM: Uses Fabric Link to create managed real-time data lakes within Dataverse, exposed via Shortcuts - removing ETL complexity
- Business Central & NAV: Uses APIs and Data Factory to extract data and store in Fabric Lakehouse
- Dataverse Shortcuts: Data stays in source systems whilst being accessible in Fabric for instant analytics
The Bottom Line: Traditional ETL is fragmented, manual, and creates inconsistencies. Microsoft Fabric is unified, automated, and provides reliable reporting.
What this looks like in practice: In a traditional setup, your finance and sales teams create separate reports from different data sources, leading to conflicting numbers. With Microsoft Fabric, all teams access the same governed data, enabling faster, more accurate decision-making.
Power BI Integration and Analytics
Microsoft Fabric transforms reporting through seamless integration:
- OneLake Foundation: Unified data lake where information from systems like Dynamics 365 CRM is ingested via Fabric Link and exposed through Shortcuts
- Power BI Semantic Models: Can be linked to Lakehouse data without rebuilding, supporting row-level security and reusable business logic
- Live Reporting: Reports refresh in near real-time, removing manual intervention
- AI and Natural Language: Power BI supports natural language queries and built-in AI features like predictive forecasting and anomaly detection
Governance, Scalability, and AI: Why Microsoft Fabric Wins
Governance
Traditional ETL: Fragmented across tools, requires manual configuration, lacks centralised visibility.
Microsoft Fabric: Built-in governance via Microsoft Purview with transparent data lineage and centralised policy enforcement.
Scalability
Traditional ETL: Manual infrastructure planning, separate systems, high operational overhead.
Microsoft Fabric: Built on elastic compute and storage with multi-modal access. SaaS model scales without rearchitecting.
AI & ML Integration
Traditional ETL: Limited support, requires separate platforms and custom integrations. Microsoft Fabric: AI and ML natively embedded with seamless Azure Machine Learning and Microsoft Copilot integration.
|
Feature |
Traditional ETL |
Microsoft Fabric |
|
Governance |
Manual, fragmented |
Built-in via Purview |
|
Data Lineage |
Limited |
Transparent, end-to-end |
|
Scalability |
Manual infrastructure planning |
Elastic via OneLake |
|
Storage |
Multiple silos |
Unified logical lake |
|
AI/ML Integration |
External platforms |
Embedded with Azure ML & Copilot |
|
Predictive Analytics |
Limited |
Native capabilities |
Why Finance Teams Should Care
Enhanced Business Visibility: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central integrates with Microsoft Fabric to provide live visibility, enabling better data-driven decisions.
Departmental Integration: Microsoft Fabric unifies data from finance, sales, operations, and marketing. Shortcuts and integrated pipelines allow seamless access to data from Dynamics 365, Business Central, and NAV - no duplication or manual exports.
Faster Time-to-Insight: Automated data ingestion through Spark Notebooks and Data Pipelines speeds up reporting. Power BI integration allows live dashboards without manual refreshes, reducing dependency on legacy tools like Excel and manual ETL processes. Microsoft's own Finance Data & Experiences (FD&E) team reduced report processing time by two-thirds using Fabric, delivering insights five hours faster and cutting data generation costs by 50%.
Cost Optimisation: Microsoft funding options available to help offset costs, making adoption more feasible.
Futureproofing: Microsoft Fabric architecture supports data engineering, analytics, and business intelligence in one platform. Elastic scalability accommodates growing data volumes without rearchitecting. Embedded AI/ML enables predictive forecasting and natural language querying.
Is Microsoft Fabric Worth it?
Microsoft Fabric is redefining finance data platforms by unifying data engineering, analytics, and business intelligence. By consolidating financial data into a central repository, it removes departmental barriers and provides consistent reporting. Power BI integration delivers live, governed insights for both operational and strategic reporting.
Beyond efficiency, Microsoft Fabric offers robust governance through Microsoft Purview for secure, compliant handling of sensitive financial data. Its modular design and embedded AI/ML capabilities support predictive analytics from day-to-day operations to executive decision-making.
Come to TSG for your Microsoft Fabric licensing. As a Microsoft house ourselves, we wouldn't sell you something we wouldn't use. Our experts know Microsoft Fabric inside out. Come talk to our people and we can help you see where Microsoft Fabric can improve your finance operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Need Microsoft Fabric for Power BI?
Power BI does not require Microsoft Fabric to function. Power BI is a standalone business intelligence tool for creating reports, dashboards, and analytics from various data sources. Think of Power BI as the “last mile of analytics”. Theres a lot of effort behind the scenes to delivering post to your property. Power BI can handle some of that complexity, however, integrating with Microsoft Fabric allows organisations to leverage broader analytics and data management tools, streamline workflows, and remove tool fragmentation.
How Much Does Microsoft Fabric Cost?
Microsoft Fabric licensing offers two main options:
- Pay-as-you-go: Flexible monthly billing
- Reserved capacity: Prepaid for discounted rates (~41% savings)
The price depends on your licence stack and current IT provider.
Is Microsoft Fabric Part of Azure?
Microsoft Fabric is a Microsoft cloud SaaS platform that is built on top of with Azure and other Microsoft cloud services but is not strictly part of Azure. It runs as a unified data and analytics platform within the broader Microsoft cloud ecosystem, using Azure for infrastructure and integration.
