Anonymized engagement summary: Azure Synapse and Data Factory to Microsoft Fabric for a multi-location specialty retailer (2026)
Delivered — client correspondence on file (EPC-reported; documents private)First-pass editionA multi-location specialty retailer (client not named) · 2026 · Project ID EPC-2026-ANON-RETAIL-FABRIC
Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
Opening answer. In 2026 EPC Group retired a multi-location specialty retailer's Azure Synapse and Data Factory estate and rebuilt it in Microsoft Fabric, against live production. The estate was assessed from January, rebuilt in Fabric and tested in parallel against production before any switch; cutover was staged across three controlled events in late March and early April 2026, and the legacy Synapse resources were paused in June after review.
Disclosure. This is an EPC-reported anonymized engagement summary. The client is not named, and the retailer's point-of-sale and HR/payroll vendors are described generically because naming them would identify the client. Supporting project records — EPC Group's consulting hours statement (version 3, October 22, 2026) and the dated client correspondence reproduced in its appendix — are retained privately and are not published in the Evidence Center, so this account is outside the Evidence Center's documented-engagement counts. Every engagement fact below is taken from that statement.
Verification class
Delivered — client correspondence on file (EPC-reported; documents private). The hours statement records each delivery day against a contemporaneous engineering record, dated correspondence with the client, or both. The client accepted the replication additions in July 2026. No document is published here, and no figure below is independently audited.
Buyer problem and scope
| Item | What the record states |
|---|---|
| Buyer | A multi-location specialty retailer (client not named) |
| Starting estate | Azure Synapse and Azure Data Factory, feeding a data warehouse from the retailer's point-of-sale platform and an integration with its HR and payroll platform |
| Target state | The same workloads rebuilt in Microsoft Fabric, with the Synapse and Data Factory estate retired |
| Constraint | Executed against live production; the business could not be interrupted |
| Cutover | Three staged, controlled events in late March and early April 2026: the HR/payroll integration, then the point-of-sale data pipelines, then the point-of-sale data warehouse |
| Legacy shutdown | Synapse resources paused in June 2026 following review, ending the duplicated run-rate |
| Programme | A 1,000-hour consulting programme beginning February 2026; 718 hours consumed by October 1, 2026 (Source: EPC Group engagement data, hours statement version 3) |
Unknowns, not stated in the record: data volumes, the Fabric capacity SKU, query or refresh timings before and after, and the run-rate saving from pausing Synapse. None is claimed.
Approach and artifacts
Assess, rebuild, test in parallel, then cut over. The legacy estate was assessed from January, rebuilt in Fabric, and run in parallel against production before any switch. Cutover was split into three events by workload so that each could be checked before the next.
Platform constraints resolved in design. Three Fabric behaviours broke the legacy code, and each was resolved in design without regression to production:
- Fabric's isolation model broke the metadata update procedure.
- Fabric's case sensitivity broke the dimension and fact procedures.
- Fabric does not allow stored procedures to be invoked in parallel, so the orchestration logic was reworked.
HR/payroll integration. Seven PySpark notebooks were migrated with Azure Key Vault configuration, and the Data Factory pipeline estate was replicated under a single controlling pipeline.
Point-of-sale warehouse and replication. Additional point-of-sale tables were brought into replication, with stored-procedure development and validation, and accepted by the client in July 2026.
Production incidents resolved during the period (from the statement's incident log):
| Month | Incident | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| January | HR/payroll endpoint failure: a superseded endpoint still in use | Endpoint updated, pipeline re-triggered |
| January | HR/payroll failure: duplicate departments on the vendor side | Duplicates cleared, integration restored |
| February | HR/payroll failure: duplicate employee property short name | Record corrected, pipeline restarted |
| February | Warehouse replication fault reported by the client | Deadlock condition identified and cleared |
| April | Two-hour point-of-sale pipeline fault after cutover | Missing item identified and restored |
| April | HR/payroll failure on Fabric: the vendor changed its API hostname without notice (confirmed by the client) | Diagnosed and corrected |
| April | HR/payroll daily full-fetch failure | Host URL updated |
| June | Pipeline failures from an incorrect Key Vault credential | Credential corrected, pipelines restored |
Results and limitations
| Claim | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Synapse and Data Factory estate was rebuilt in Fabric and cut over in three staged events | Hours statement v3, Section Two | Delivered (EPC-reported; document private) |
| There was no interruption to the business | Hours statement v3 | EPC-reported |
| Legacy Synapse resources were paused in June 2026 | Hours statement v3 | Delivered (EPC-reported) |
| The client accepted the replication additions in July 2026 | Hours statement v3, with client correspondence in its appendix | Accepted (EPC-reported; correspondence private) |
| Performance, cost or capacity outcomes | No measurement stated | Not claimed |
Provenance
- Source: EPC Group's consulting hours statement, version 3 (October 22, 2026), sixteen pages, with the dated client correspondence in its appendix, held privately. Engagement ID: EPC-2026-ANON-RETAIL-FABRIC, an alias unrelated to the client's name.
- Anonymization: industry and organization type only, under EPC Group's anonymized-case rule; vendor names, staff names, commercial terms and exact cutover dates are not published.
- Not claimed: client endorsement, independent audit, or any performance, capacity or cost result.
- Author: Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group, who led principal architecture and design on the engagement.
Revision history
- 2026-10-25: anonymized engagement summary published from the hours statement, version 3.
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Author: Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group · Published: 2026-10-25.