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Microsoft Purview

Microsoft Purview is a family of solutions for data governance, data security, data risk, and compliance across an organization's data estate.

The key AZ-900 idea is:

Purview helps an organization understand, govern, protect, and manage data wherever it lives.

The problem Purview addresses

Organizations store data across:

  • Azure data services;
  • Microsoft 365;
  • on-premises databases and file systems;
  • other clouds and software-as-a-service platforms;
  • analytics and AI environments.

Without a shared governance approach, teams may not know:

  • what data exists;
  • where sensitive data is stored;
  • who owns it;
  • how it moves between systems;
  • which regulatory or retention requirements apply;
  • whether data is being overshared.

Main Purview solution areas

Data governance

Purview data-governance capabilities help discover and describe data across supported sources.

Concepts include:

  • data map: metadata describing discovered data assets and relationships;
  • data catalog: searchable business and technical context for data consumers;
  • classification: identification of data types such as personal, financial, or confidential information;
  • lineage: visibility into how data moves and transforms;
  • business glossary: shared definitions for business terms and data ownership.

Exam clue: find where sensitive data exists across many systems → Microsoft Purview.

Data security

Purview can help identify and reduce data-security risks such as:

  • sensitive information exposed too broadly;
  • risky insider activity;
  • data loss through email, endpoints, or collaboration tools;
  • oversharing with AI applications or external users.

Capabilities in the Purview family include information protection, data loss prevention, insider risk management, and related controls.

Risk and compliance

Purview compliance solutions help organizations address requirements involving:

  • records and retention;
  • auditing and investigations;
  • eDiscovery;
  • communication compliance;
  • regulatory compliance assessment.

Purview supports governance and compliance work; it does not guarantee that an organization is legally compliant by simply enabling the product.

Purview compared with common distractors

Requirement Best fit
Discover, classify, catalog, and trace organizational data Microsoft Purview
Enforce which Azure resource configurations are allowed Azure Policy
Grant a user access to an Azure resource Azure RBAC
Detect threats and improve cloud security posture Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Collect application logs and metrics Azure Monitor

Data governance versus resource governance

These sound similar but operate on different subjects.

Microsoft Purview
└── Governs and protects data
    ├── What data exists?
    ├── Is it sensitive?
    ├── Where did it come from?
    └── Who owns or uses it?

Azure Policy
└── Governs Azure resource configuration
    ├── Which regions are allowed?
    ├── Are required tags present?
    └── Is encryption configured?

Scenario

A bank needs a searchable catalog showing databases that contain customer identifiers and the transformations that feed its reporting platform.

Best fit: Microsoft Purview for discovery, classification, cataloging, and lineage.

Scenario

A company must prevent Azure storage accounts from being created without secure-transfer requirements.

Best fit: Azure Policy, not Purview. The requirement governs resource configuration.

Exam clues

  • Data catalog → Purview.
  • Data classification and sensitivity → Purview.
  • Data lineage → Purview.
  • Data loss prevention and records management → Purview family.
  • Allowed Azure region or required resource setting → Azure Policy.

Check yourself

Statement: Microsoft Purview replaces Azure RBAC because it governs data.

Answer: False. Purview supplies data-governance, security, and compliance capabilities. RBAC authorizes management actions on Azure resources.

Official references