Data & Analytics — Cluster Overview Map

The Data & Analytics cluster at a glance — the use cases, platform choices, governance plane, and CDO buying agenda that span Fabric, Databricks, Snowflake, and the Microsoft governance stack.

BusinessCapabilityTechnology
Compass
  • Businesspersona, use case, outcome
  • Capabilitywhat the org needs to do
  • Technologythe technology choices
Guided journey · Step 1 of 4

Platform Selection Strategy

Platform selection — Fabric anchor, Databricks lakehouse, Snowflake warehouse, or coexistence. Workload fit, not vendor preference.

~ 8 weeks

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Narrative intro

Data & Analytics is the cluster where the most platform decisions are made and the most are mis-made. This map gives the cluster overview — platform selection (Fabric, Databricks, Snowflake or coexistence), foundations, the Purview governance plane, and data products as the maturity threshold. The Microsoft estate frequently runs a Fabric + Databricks coexistence with Snowflake serving specific workload classes.

Key takeaways

  • Coexistence (Fabric + Databricks, sometimes + Snowflake) is the common pattern at scale
  • Storage substrate is the longest-lived decision — ADLS, OneLake, Iceberg matter most
  • Purview Data Governance is the federation layer across all three platforms
  • Data products with named owners is the maturity threshold beyond plumbing

Programme shape

Estimated duration
30–60 weeks
Estimated FTE
1 FTE platform lead + governance lead + part-time engineering, BI, and ML partners
Spend tier
major
Risk level
elevated

The cluster spans platform selection, governance, self-service, and ML/AI operations. Most large estates run a Fabric + Databricks (and sometimes Snowflake) coexistence pattern with Purview as the federation layer.

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