Topic hub
Purview, Fabric policies and domains, the security model, row-level security, GDPR and POPIA, and governing Copilot.
14 articles by the Solv Systems team
Data governance fails in two directions. Either the tenant switches are all-or-nothing and the business routes around them, or nobody owns the definitions and every department reports a different number. On Microsoft Fabric and Power BI the controls now exist to do better, but they are spread across Purview, workspace roles, capacity settings, domains, policies and the semantic model itself, and they only work when someone has decided what the rules are.
This hub collects our governance and security writing. It begins with what data governance is and a Microsoft governance framework you can actually implement, then goes into the Fabric specifics: the security model and where each permission is set, rule-based Fabric policies, domains and data mesh, and Purview for lineage, classification and sensitivity labels. Power BI controls are covered in detail, including row-level security and workspace governance that still works at a hundred reports. Compliance articles explain what GDPR and POPIA actually require of a data platform. The newest section is AI governance: keeping Copilot away from stale or sensitive content, Purview DSPM for AI, and Entra Agent ID as the identity perimeter for agents.
Our Microsoft data governance service page describes how we run this work as a programme rather than a one-off audit.
Newest first.
Purview can now archive inactive SharePoint files out of Copilot's index, permanently clean up stale content, and block agents sending data to unsanctioned AI. Which control fits which problem.
Microsoft Fabric policies (preview) replace blunt tenant switches with allow rules by group, workspace, item type and label. The three policy types, the allow-list trap, and a rollout plan.
Data governance is deciding who owns data, what it means, who may use it and how quality is kept - then enforcing it in the platform. The components, roles, Microsoft tools and a 90-day plan.
Fabric domains group workspaces by business area, delegate admin, and give data mesh ideas a practical home. How domains work, when they help, and how to introduce them without a reorg.
Workspace roles, item permissions, OneLake data access, RLS, labels: Fabric secures data at several layers that compose in non-obvious ways. A working map of the model and the order to configure it.
Every agent that queries data or takes action is an identity in your estate. How Entra Agent ID brings AI agents under identity governance, and the controls to put around them.
Copilot answers from whatever the user can access, making years of casual SharePoint permissions suddenly searchable. How Purview DSPM for AI finds the exposure before your users do.
Lawful basis for analytics, minimisation in a lakehouse, retention that is enforced rather than documented, and answering subject access requests without an archaeology project.
What POPIA actually requires of an analytics estate, where it differs from GDPR in ways that change implementation, and how to build so compliance is a property of the platform.
Every estate hits the point where nobody can find the right report and nobody dares delete the wrong one. The structure to put in place before that, and how to recover if you are already there.
Most governance programmes fail the same way: they start with committees and documents. This one starts with your most business-critical data and ships enforceable rules in weeks.
Sharing data widely shouldn't mean exposing it. How row-level security, role-based access and sensitivity labels let you open up analytics without opening up risk.
Row-level security in Power BI controls which rows each user sees in the same report. Step-by-step setup for static and dynamic RLS, testing, object-level security, Direct Lake and common mistakes.
Data governance in Microsoft Fabric is built on Microsoft Purview, covering data cataloguing, lineage tracking, access policies, and sensitivity labels. Here is how it works in practice.
We set up Purview, Fabric policies and Power BI security so the rules are clear and the business stops routing around them. Book a free 30-minute call to review where you stand.