George Firican

The University of British Columbia

Director, Data Governance & Business Intelligence

Led a team of wonderful and highly skilled people in the areas of:
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Information Systems
- Gift Processing 
- Operations
- Strategic Projects
- Prospect Research & Analytics 
- Data Governance & Business Intelligence 

To support the goals of the fundraising and alumni engagement portfolio across the university.

Chief Advancement Operations Officer (Interim)

Director of Information Technology (Interim)

• Lead the Data Governance/ Quality program and the strategy development of Development and Alumni Engagement’s (DAE) data acquisition, maintenance and dissemination while fostering innovation and long term strategic vision
• Lead the efforts to develop a business glossary as well as a business intelligence (BI) framework and program that provides user-friendly access to the right information for the right people at the right time
• Directed the development and enhancement of standards, procedures, processes, policies related to the improvement and/or maintenance of quality of data within the Blackbaud Enterprise CRM database
• Created and fostered strategic partnerships and influential relationships with DAE senior management, the broader UBC community, campus stakeholders, vendors, and external universities to secure the success of DAE’s data governance, business intelligence and information quality efforts
• Collaborated with Information Technology to manage the development of automated data validations, data cleanses, data quality issue reports, and deployment of new tools and enhancements to aid in the preservation of data quality
• Advanced the data governance and business intelligence profession by participating in professional organizations, acquiring or maintaining required accreditations, publishing articles, and giving presentations at professional events

Associate Director, Data Governance & Business Intelligence

I proudly took part of UBC's "Start an Evolution" campaign (https://startanevolution.ubc.ca/), campaign which raised $1.5 billion dollars for students, research and community engagement and to double the number of alumni involved annually in the life of the university by 2015.

• Established and led an award winning Data Governance/Quality Program to support the university’s $1.5 billion fundraising campaign and sustainable alumni engagement strategy
• Provided oversight of the Data Governance/Quality Program and kept it on track by managing the development of standards, procedures, processes, policies related to the acquisition, management, and dissemination of enterprise data impacting the Blackbaud Enterprise CRM database while leading the Advisory Council
• Developed an award winning Tracing Program through which the returned mail percentage of Development and Alumni Engagement’s Portfolio has been reduced to less than 1%
• Managed the development of business performance metrics and scorecards to monitor and communicate the status and improvement of service of the Records department
• Achieved a 92% address and phone number accuracy for Canadian records, an improvement from ~64%
• Communicated to and educated internal and external stakeholders on the results and initiatives of data governance, quality, master data management, information delivery and advised stakeholders about best practices; was the first and only department to achieve 100% on the annual client satisfaction survey on communication delivery and content

Data Quality Manager

LightsOnData

- Educational Content Creation: Develop and deliver comprehensive courses, workshops, and webinars on data governance, data management, data quality, AI, and more.
- Brand Amplification: Collaborate with data companies to enhance their brand visibility and thought leadership in the data community.
- Engagement and Outreach: Host the Lights On Data Show podcast, featuring industry leaders and experts to share their insights and experiences.

Founder

Pearson

Course Instructor

O'Reilly

iData Quality Academy

Developed course content for iData Quality Academy
- Data Profiling
- Data Quality Costs

Instructor

Self employed

• Provided project management and business analysis expertise to various projects across the different industries (BaniPePost.com, JT Business Group, SMAWS, 8p8, Ashenzi, NetPress Consulting, LTS, AHACommunity, etc).
• Designed and developed unique, highly professional web and print designs, branding and e-learning solutions as well as developing and configuring custom websites (e-stores, online communities, content management systems, blogs, brochure websites, etc.).
• Accumulated experience as a web master by installing, upgrading, performing backups, managing migrations and maintaining a series of complex websites.

Freelance Consultant

Sauder School of Business, UBC

• Served as internal Project Manager for the evaluation, build and deployment phases of a custom-built, scalable web payment gateway (WPG) that complied with the PCI standard requirements and reduced Sauder Finance’s operational time for the allocation and reporting of revenue received via card payments by 75%
• Managed the deployment of a FIPPA compliant e-newsletter tool (Industry Mailout) selected to achieve a standard for design and operational support while reducing expenses by $15k/year
• Planned and managed the development and release of a new service for personal/academic blogging through the use of the WordPress MU environment for faculty members and current Sauder students
• Managed the development of an improved content publishing process to account for 15 digital signs, each with audience specific content & emergency broadcasting capabilities
• Served as the internal project manager for the development and deployment of the Canaccord Learning Commons web presence comprised of a WordPress based website and a BuddyPress student interaction environment
• Developed solutions for integrating the business environment with web 2.0 technologies such as WordPress 3 based sites, online communities (Ning, Moodle), and collaboration tools (MediaWiki, Project Spaces, CoMapping) while providing expertise and system support for these platforms
• Identified customer requirements, analyzed and reviewed product features, integration, security, scalability and performance requirements for projects such as PPM Tool, a collaboration tool to be used between the Center of Health Care Management and BC health care authorities, Desktop Blogging Client Solution, ECM Society Online Presence, Faculty Master Calendar, Form Building Tool, Event Registration, PCI Payment Forms Conversions, and several online presences for different business areas and conferences

Project Manager / BA

Everest iTech

• Promoted to Project Manager for the Showtime Models website and web application and the All Ears accounting software development project due to excellent interpersonal, communication and leadership skills in the relationships with the client and internal development team
• Led the development of several e-commerce sites (ex: SkyHook Solar, Expressive Designs Florist, JT-Autotech) and dynamic websites (ex: Mailinglist System, Informant Zone) and also helped architect their databases
• Increased the employees' knowledgebase by developing e-learning modules and user manuals for the use of the company’s payroll and accounting software
• Enhanced the online awareness of the company’s brand by 40% by creating a new content strategy and redeveloping its website in a WordPress, SEO friendly environment
• Minimized the cost of online advertising by developing free distributed widgets that increased incoming traffic by 5k visitors/ month

Project Manager / Lead Web Developer

Event Technologies

• Developed customer support standards and procedures for the company’s e-store business and helped transition a staff of 12 to this new environment through training sessions and a knowledgebase wiki.
• Minimized the installation time of new systems by 80% by creating and managing standard desktop images based on the employees’ job roles.
• Reduced search time of hardware and software information by 50% by developing a standard for filing all the technical documentation on hardware equipment and software.

IT Consultant

WGOA

• Demonstrated strong leadership skills by acting as the team leader of a software developer group in order to successfully implement and deliver an interactive Go learning application two weeks ahead of deadline and within budget.
• Coded the backend interaction of a merchandise inventory application with a barcode scanner and also contributed to developing the MySQL database and reporting. 
• Facilitated the team members to work remotely by implementing a VPN solution and integrated the use of Subversion to enable software versioning and revision control.

Software developer

💬 Founder of LightsOnData.com and LightsOnData YouTube Channel
Focused on providing informative content such as ONLINE COURSES, templates, guides, best practices, articles, white papers, and other useful resources to help you with your data governance and data management questions and challenges

💬 Creator of online courses that are engaging, new, and thorough. 
Courses: Building an Award-Winning Business Glossary, Data Governance Maturity Models, Data Governance Fundamentals, etc. - check them out here: https://www.lightsondata.com/courses/

💬 Providing LinkedIn content strategy for data-focused companies and products, as well as those with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), business intelligence (BI, data science, data management, and data governance areas.
Connect with me today and ask how I can help you reach the data audience.

💬 Host of Lights on Data Show - a podcast and LinkedIn Live weekly show that provides insights into the data world and showcases people that help to shape it.

💬 Get some fun data merchandise here: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/lightsondata/all

💬 International key note speaker, conference speaker, and panelist (spoken at over 60 different conferences).

💬 I love being on camera, hiking, surfing, filming, and video editing
YouTube: @LightsOnData


🏛 My experience and specialties: 
• Expertise in data governance, information quality, business intelligence & data management
• Extensive background in web and application development with experience of the full life-cycle of a project
• Strong leadership capabilities, organizational and communication skills

Specialties: 
• Enterprise information management: Information quality, data governance and stewardship, master data management, business intelligence, business process improvement
• Development: Web and application development, relational database design and development
• Planning: Budget and resource planning, agile and waterfall project management, team development and leadership
• Tools and Applications: Collibra, Tableau, MS Visio, MS Project, Premiere, Photoshop

George Firican 💡

Here is my recommendation for this week.
If Agentic AI is on your roadmap, checkout this ebook  👇

It breaks down what many overlook: AI success depends on the maturity of your data architecture.
Here's what else you can find in it:
• Clear explanation of what a modern, AI-ready architecture looks like
• Practical guidance on data quality, cataloging, lineage and governance
• A real example of how a bank scaled agentic AI by modernizing its foundation

So if you are leading data initiatives or planning for AI adoption, this is a good resource to read.

Until next time, let's keep putting the Lights on Data!
-George 
#data #AI #partnerpost

💡 Award Winning Data Governance Leader | Content Creator & Influencer | Founder of LightsOnData | Podcast Host: Lights On Data Show | LinkedIn Top Voice

Modernize Data Architectures for  Agentic AI Success

What are the biggest misconceptions business leaders still have about AI?

I sat down with Stijn (Stan) Christiaens, Co-founder of Collibra, at Data Citizens to unpack what AI readiness really means for organizations. 

Here are 5 takeaways from our chat:

1. Many leaders still see AI as “a chat in the cloud.”
2. Organizations need the right foundations around AI
3. AI ready data requires more than quality
4. Unstructured data is no longer optional
5. Unified governance is becoming essential

If you want a clear picture of what it truly takes to prepare your organization for AI, this interview delivers.
Full conversation in the video below.

Until next time, let’s keep putting the Lights On Data.
-George Firican

#data #datagovernance #AI

Every December I look ahead… and this year, one prediction feels very safe:

I'll be attending Subsurface Live on December 10, coffee in hand, curious about how Agentic AI and open lakehouse patterns will shape 2026.

The agenda lines up well with questions many of us are exploring right now:
➡️ How will agent-based execution reshape data workflows?
➡️ What signals are emerging around performance, formats and multi-cloud patterns?
➡️ Where is the Apache Iceberg ecosystem pushing innovation next?

For anyone designing data systems or planning next-year priorities, this feels like a valuable moment to absorb ideas and future direction.

Registration is free: https://lnkd.in/gmDPiaES
Where: Virtual
Date: Dec 10, 2025 
Time: 8AM - 2PM PT / 4PM - 10PM GMT / 5PM - 11PM CET

See you there!

#data #AI

Onyx Data

Built and scaled a Microsoft Data & AI consultancy serving enterprise and public sector clients across the UK, UAE, and US.

Highlights:
Microsoft Fabric Featured Partner & Microsoft MVP (5x)
Delivered Azure AI-powered solutions across finance, education, and government
Launched FabOps – a Microsoft co-sell solution for Fabric observability
Enabled 3 enterprise clients to scale Fabric & Copilot across departments
Regularly featured at Microsoft Build, FabCon, and global MVP events

Founder / Chief Executive Officer

Forbes Technology Council

Thought Leader

LinkedIn

As a LinkedIn Learning Instructor specialising in Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), I am dedicated to creating and delivering high-quality educational content that empowers learners to advance their careers in data and AI. My role involves developing comprehensive courses, engaging with the learner community, and continuously updating course materials to reflect the latest industry trends.

Key Achievements:

- Expert Content Development: Created and delivered high-impact courses that received positive feedback and high engagement from learners.

- Curriculum Innovation: Developed innovative and comprehensive curriculam that facilitated structured learning paths for students, enhancing their understanding and application of data and AI concepts.

- Effective Knowledge Transfer: Simplified complex technical concepts, making them accessible and engaging for a diverse learner base, resulting in improved learner outcomes.

- Community Building: Fostered an active and supportive learning community through regular engagement in user groups, helping learners overcome challenges and succeed in their educational journeys.

- Continual Improvement: Actively sought and integrated learner feedback, leading to continuous improvement of course content and instructional methods.

LinkedIn Learning Instructor

The AI Journal

Contributor

AI4C

The key aim of the AI4C is to help charities embarking on AI/ML deployments with pro bono insights/advice - all in a confidential, collaborative sales-free, vendor neutral environment. 

Over 30 charities have joined and gained value with their strategic thinking, user stories, design, deployment and operations. 

AI 4 Good / Tech 4 Good 

If you are a charity leader looking to get the most for the people you serve, feel free to contact the AI4C Chair Paul Excell paul.excell@member.wcit.org.uk

Member

Global AI Hub

Brainz Magazine Official

Executive Contributor

Pomerol Partners

Partner

Reassured

Head Of Data And Insight (Freelance)

Redkite

Principal Power BI Consultant (Freelance) 

Microsoft MVP | AI & Fabric Specialist for Business Transformation | Helping Enterprises Unlock ROI with Azure, Copilot & Power BI | Forbes Tech | Keynote Speaker | CEO, Onyx Data

Your data shouldn't just inform decisions, it should transform your business.

I’m Leon Gordon a Microsoft MVP, keynote speaker, and founder of Onyx Data, where we help enterprises turn Microsoft Fabric, Azure AI, Power BI and Copilot into measurable ROI.

I’ve spent the past 13 years leading enterprise data and AI transformations. From being a hands-on technologist to now heading up a global team, I’ve seen how the right data strategy, aligned with business goals, drives massive ROI.

Clients turn to Onyx Data when they need:
• End-to-end Microsoft Fabric & Copilot implementations
• AI strategy and deployment with Azure OpenAI
• Power BI governance, optimisation & adoption frameworks
• Executive training to build data culture from the top down

Real-world outcomes we’ve delivered:
• £3M in new revenue from insight-driven selling
• 187.1% reduction in data latency
• 35% increase in data accuracy
• 50%+ boost in data literacy
• Featured by Microsoft at Build, FabCon, and global case studies

Recognitions:
• 5x Microsoft MVP
• Microsoft Data & AI Solutions Partner
• Microsoft Digital & App Innovation Partner
• Microsoft Fabric & Real-Time Intelligence Featured Partner
• Microsoft Training Services Partner
• LinkedIn Top Voice
• Founder of #DataDNA – global monthly analytics challenge

Featured by Microsoft at Build, FabCon, and global case studies. Speaker at top industry events across the UK, US, and Middle East.

Latest launch - FabOps – our co-sell-ready Fabric observability solution designed for enterprise-scale efficiency and impact → https://fabops.ai

👉 Ready to move beyond insights and into action?
→ Book a strategy call → https://bit.ly/46MgPHM
→ Try FabOps free → www.fabops.ai
→ Join 28,000+ global pros in #DataDNA → https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9075495/
→ Subscribe to my weekly AI and Data insights → https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/ai-and-data-tech-trends-6933659594284023808?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base%3BxNISbSHFTkGWI32ogCOB4Q%3D%3D

Leon Gordon

Lakehouse vs. Data Warehouse vs. KQL… Stop guessing, start architecting.

One of the most common questions I get about Microsoft Fabric is: "Which data store should I use?"

The answer isn’t A, B, or C. It’s usually "All of the above."

Here is my one-page cheat sheet to help you navigate the unified storage foundation of OneLake.

The Key Differentiators:

The Lakehouse (The Engine Room)
Persona: Data Engineers & Scientists.
Power: Spark Engine (Python, Scala).

Best For: The "messy" work. Ingesting raw unstructured files, heavy data validation, and ML workloads. This is your Bronze and Silver layer powerhouse.

The Data Warehouse (The Serving Layer)
Persona: SQL Developers & BI Analysts.
Power: SQL Engine (Polaris).

Best For: The "Gold" standard. Serving polished, star-schema data to Power BI with granular security (RLS/CLS). If you speak T-SQL, this is your home.

The KQL Database (The Speed Demon)
Persona: Real-time Analysts.
Power: Kusto Engine.

Best For: High-throughput streaming, logs, and time-series analysis.

The Pro Tip: Don't think in silos. The true power of Fabric is using the Medallion Architecture: Use the Lakehouse to clean and prep (Bronze/Silver) ➡️ Shortcut or load into the Warehouse to serve (Gold) ➡️ Use KQL for real-time sidecars.

They all share the same storage format (Parquet/Delta) under the hood, so interoperability is seamless.

Save this cheat sheet for your next architecture meeting! 

#MicrosoftFabric #DataEngineering #DataArchitecture #PowerBI #SQL #DataScience #OnyxData

Finally I can share this news with you all..


I was lucky enough to feature in Barclays’ new series "Working Lunch", where I, 
along with Barclays Business Banking expert Amy Morgan and the one-and-only superstar YouTuber WillNE (Will Lenney), help answer the question “how do you turn a side hustle into a business?”

We look at bootstrapping vs angel investors when starting out, and which is best for you.

Hope you enjoy it!

A massive thank you to Barclays for having me and my company Onyx Data.

The link to the episode is in the comments 👇

No alternative text description for this image

“Most organisations don’t struggle with AI readiness because of tools… they struggle because their data has no shared language.”

Over the past year, I’ve spoken with CIOs, CDOs, and Data Leaders across the GCC and Europe and the pattern is the same every time.

Teams are investing heavily in Microsoft Fabric, AI Agents, and LLMs…
but relationships across the data estate are still fragmented.

And without shared meaning —
AI can’t reason, predict, or trust your data.

Here’s what leaders tell me repeatedly:

“Our semantic models don’t scale across domains.”

“AI gives inconsistent answers because context isn’t unified.”

“We can’t connect real-time and historical data cleanly.”

“Everything feels fast… but not aligned.”

It’s never a tooling issue.
It’s an ontology issue — a clarity issue.

That’s why I created this cheatsheet for Fabric IQ, Microsoft’s ontology layer for AI-ready data.
Because when organisations shift from tables to entities + relationships, everything changes:

AI Agents reason with business context
Cross-domain data becomes unified
Real-time + historical insights become consistent
Governance improves automatically
Your Microsoft Fabric estate becomes “AI-ready” instead of “AI-hopeful”

This is the difference between
AI that answers and AI you can actually trust.

If you want to understand how to apply Fabric IQ to your own Microsoft estate — and avoid the common mistakes that break AI outcomes I’ve opened a few early access slots this week.

📌 Comment “FABRIC IQ” below
and I’ll share the full implementation framework we use with clients across UAE, KSA, Qatar & Europe, including governance, design steps, and real case examples.

Because AI success doesn’t start with models.
It starts with meaning.

— Leon Gordon
Microsoft MVP

#MicrosoftFabric #DataGovernance #AIReadyData #Ontology #FabricIQ #EnterpriseAI #MicrosoftPartner

5 Years at the Top. Microsoft leads the Gartner Magic Quadrant Again. 

Consistency matters. For the 5th consecutive year, Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools.

Why? Because they stopped treating "integration" as a silo.

With Microsoft Fabric, integration is now:
-> Unified - OneLake connects everything.
-> Zero-ETL - Shortcuts and Mirroring remove the need to move data.
-> AI-Ready - The foundation for all your Copilot ambitions.

If you are still debating whether Fabric is enterprise-ready, this report is the validation you’ve been waiting for.

Click to read the full newsletter.

#MicrosoftFabric #GartnerMQ #DataIntegration #DataFactory #ETL #ZeroETL

5 Years Strong - Gartner names Microsoft a Leader in Data Integration. Microsoft has been recognised as a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ 

Open article: 5 Years Running - Microsoft Named a Leader in 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ by Leon Gordon • 2 min read

5 Years Running - Microsoft Named a Leader in 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

It’s finally here. Microsoft has launched GPT-5.2 into M365 Copilot, and it changes the game by splitting the brain in two:

1. Thinking Mode: It pauses, reasons, and plans before answering. Perfect for strategy and complex analysis.

2. Instant Mode: Blazing fast for drafting and summaries.

The days of one model doing everything are over. Now, you choose the engine for the job.

The best feature in my opinion? 
Deep integration with Work IQ. 

You can now ask: "Look at my meetings from last week and tell me the strategic risks to the Q1 plan."

I break down the new modes and what they mean for your enterprise strategy in the newsletter.

Click to read the full breakdown.

#MicrosoftCopilot #GPT5 #AIStrategy #FutureOfWork #Microsoft365

GPT-5.2 is live in Copilot. Here is what changes with this release. Microsoft just released GPT-5.2 with two new modes: "Thinking" for strategy and "I

Open article: GPT-5.2 is live in Copilot by Leon Gordon • 2 min read

𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗢.𝗚." 𝗔𝗜 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁. 💀

It’s official... 
𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗜 𝗤&𝗔 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱.

For years, we spent hours tuning synonyms and linguistic schemas to make Q&A work. That era is over.

Microsoft has announced that by 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 2026, the Q&A visual will fully stop working. The future is 100% 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁.

- 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀: You have a hard deadline to migrate your existing Q&A reports.
- 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀: Copilot is vastly smarter, context-aware, and easier to manage than the old Q&A engine.

We break down the timeline and your migration checklist in our latest newsletter.

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗤&𝗔.

#PowerBI #Copilot #MicrosoftFabric #DataAnalytics #AI #Deprecation

The End of Legacy NLP in Power BI The Q&A Visual is Officially Dead. Copilot is the New Standard. Microsoft has announced the full deprecation of the 

Open article: Goodbye Q&A, Hello Copilot by Leon Gordon • 2 min read

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. 🛑

It used to be a hard choice: Give developers access to everything in the Lakehouse (risky), or split your data into tiny, fragmented Lakehouses (messy).

Microsoft just fixed this with OneLake ReadWrite Permissions.

You can now grant granular "Read/Write" access to specific folders or schemas within the same Lakehouse.

- 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝘀: Can write to Staging and General.
- 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: Can lock down Finance and HR.
- 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: One unified Lakehouse, zero data sprawl.

This is the governance update we've been waiting for.

Click to read the full newsletter on how to architect a Unified Lakehouse.

#MicrosoftFabric #OneLake #DataGovernance #DataEngineering #CyberSecurity

One Lakehouse to rule them all? Finally possible with new permissions. Microsoft released "ReadWrite" permissions for OneLake. Here is how to secure y

Open article: Stop the Sprawl - Granular Security for OneLake is Here by Leon Gordon • 2 min read

Stop the Sprawl - Granular Security for OneLake is Here

Stop paying the "Spaghetti Tax" on your data architecture. 

The blueprint on the left isn't just messy, it's expensive, fragile, and slow. The Microsoft Fabric blueprint on the right is unified, efficient, and built for speed.

The gap between these two realities is smaller than you think, if you have the right vehicle.

Accelerate your move to the superhighway with our Onyx Fabric Accelerator. We have the methodology to get you there fast.

Better yet? You might not have to foot the bill.

Find out if your company is eligible for Microsoft funding to kickstart your Fabric migration with Onyx. 👇

Link for funding eligibility in the chat.

#MicrosoftFabric #DataAnalytics #CIO #DigitalTransformation #OnyxAccelerator

We spend too much time looking at the shiny dashboard and not enough time looking at the engine block. 

The Microsoft Data & AI ecosystem isn't magic; it's heavy industrial machinery.

It’s easy to forget that a seamless Power BI report, a unified Fabric estate, or a smooth Copilot experience aren't just single applications. They are complex assemblies of interconnected components, pipelines, and governance layers.

If you just treat the surface, you'll never build a resilient foundation.

So, I decided to visualize the stack differently. I wanted to strip away the slick UI and see the blueprints underneath.

Introducing my concept for "Microsoft Data & AI: The Disassembly Manual." 

Swipe through this carousel ➡️ to see the exploded-view engineering diagrams of the tools we use every day:

Slide 2: Power BI. It’s not just a drawing tool. See how the Data Connectors feed the Power Query transmission, which powers the critical Data Model engine.

Slide 3: Microsoft Fabric. The ultimate convergence machine. Visualize how distinct Synapse compute engines dock onto the unified foundation of OneLake.

Slide 4: Copilot & Azure AI Foundry. The "iceberg illusion." The simple chat interface at the top is supported by massive infrastructure for orchestration, safety, and model management below.

This is the architecture required for true enterprise intelligence.

Which one of these "machines" are you spending the most time wrenching on these days? Let me know in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost if you think these blueprints would help explain the architecture to your stakeholders!

#MicrosoftFabric #PowerBI #AzureAI #DataEngineering #DataArchitecture #TechViz #Microsoft #Copilot #BigData

Microsoft Data & AI The Disassembly Manual

Join our Microsoft Fabric - UK User Group for our latest webinar.

This session we are excited to announce our host Microsoft MVP Leon Gordon and co-host Microsoft MVP Pragati Jain will be introducing Microsoft MVP Thomas Martens.

Join the Microsoft Fabric UK - User Group on -

Microsoft Community - https://lnkd.in/dtrfGvy

LinkedIn - https://lnkd.in/dX_Ziaz

MeetUp - https://lnkd.in/d6wteZBn

Session Abstract -

In this session, I'll provide a comprehensive introduction to Microsoft's latest analytical superpower—Microsoft Graph.

We'll start by exploring the fundamental ingredients of graph databases: nodes (your data entities) and edges (the relationships that connect them). I'll demonstrate how to combine these elements and add various "flavors" using GQL (Graph Query Language)—the newly standardized ISO query language that's making graph operations more consistent and portable across platforms. Spoiler alert: it's way more intuitive than wrestling with complex SQL joins that look like they were designed by someone who really, really loved parentheses.

To bring everything together, I'll showcase hands-on demos that illuminate the practical differences between these database approaches and demonstrate the impressive analytical capabilities of Microsoft Fabric Graph. You'll see real-world scenarios where graph analytics reveals insights that would be practically impossible (or at least incredibly painful) to extract from traditional tabular data.

This session is designed for both developers and architects, offering a dual perspective that balances the technical nitty-gritty with strategic architectural considerations. You'll gain practical insights into working with GQL tooling while also understanding the business challenges Microsoft Fabric Graph will solve.

Whether you're considering adding graph capabilities to your data platform or just curious about what all the graph hype is about, this session will equip you with the knowledge to make informed decisions and maybe even impress your colleagues at the next team meeting.

Social Media / Website Links

linkedin: https://lnkd.in/ecURcpxi

X: https://x.com/tommartens68

blog: https://lnkd.in/emHC_-Te

🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/eghYFYpb

Microsoft Fabric UK - Graph in Microsoft Fabric - an Introduction

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Performance ScoreGeorge Firican 💡's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLeon Gordon's LinkedIn Performance

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George Firican 💡

Leon Gordon

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}George Firican 💡's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLeon Gordon's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreGeorge Firican 💡's LinkedIn Performance