Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
An insight is a dated, source-cited standard or decision framework: it takes a position on how a Microsoft 365, Power BI, Fabric or AI-governance question should be settled, shows the evidence, and is written to be cited in a steering committee or a statement of work. Every insight below carries its own published and last-updated dates; it is re-dated only when its content changes. Implementation how-tos live on the blog and single buyer questions in the answers index.
The /insights directory holds 34 long-form standards and decision frameworks grouped into 7 topics, each with its own published and last-updated dates and its sources linked.
Key Facts
- 34 insights, every one linked from this hub by its own heading
- 7 topic groups: Partner selection · Pricing & licensing · Microsoft Fabric · Power BI · SharePoint & content · Microsoft 365 & Copilot · AI governance & strategy
- Each insight cites the Microsoft documentation, list-price source or record it relies on
- Dates are per article: an insight is re-dated only when its content changes
- Single buyer questions live in Answers; implementation how-tos live on the blog
Newest insights
- Sep 17, 2026Microsoft 365 Tenant AI Readiness: TAR-8 (2026)
- Aug 10, 2026Cross-Tenant SharePoint and OneDrive Migration: What Microsoft's Native Path Does and Doesn't Cover
- Aug 10, 2026Microsoft 365 Tenant-to-Tenant Migration: The Complete 2026 Guide
- Aug 10, 2026M&A Day-1 IT Integration for Microsoft 365: The 5-Gate Cutover Model
- Aug 10, 2026Microsoft Fabric Consulting: What Enterprise Buyers Should Demand
- Aug 10, 2026Microsoft Fabric vs Databricks: The 2026 Decision Framework
- Aug 10, 2026Power BI Consulting Services: 2026 Enterprise Buyer's Guide
- Aug 10, 2026Power BI Governance: The Enterprise Playbook
- Aug 10, 2026Power BI Performance at Scale: The Slow-Report Triage Manual
- Aug 10, 2026Semantic Model Certification: Making Power BI Safe for AI to Answer From
Recently re-verified
- Sep 17, 2026Microsoft 365 Tenant AI Readiness: TAR-8 (2026)
- Aug 10, 2026Cross-Tenant SharePoint and OneDrive Migration: What Microsoft's Native Path Does and Doesn't Cover
- Aug 10, 2026Microsoft 365 Tenant-to-Tenant Migration: The Complete 2026 Guide
- Aug 10, 2026M&A Day-1 IT Integration for Microsoft 365: The 5-Gate Cutover Model
- Aug 10, 2026Microsoft Fabric Consulting: What Enterprise Buyers Should Demand
- Aug 10, 2026Microsoft Fabric vs Databricks: The 2026 Decision Framework
- Aug 10, 2026Power BI Consulting Services: 2026 Enterprise Buyer's Guide
- Aug 10, 2026Power BI Governance: The Enterprise Playbook
- Aug 10, 2026Power BI Performance at Scale: The Slow-Report Triage Manual
- Aug 10, 2026Semantic Model Certification: Making Power BI Safe for AI to Answer From
Partner selection · 4
- Accenture Called It an "Isolated Matter." Here Are the Questions Every Board Should Ask.
Accenture confirmed a security incident; a threat actor claims 35 GB of code, keys, and Azure tokens for sale. Ten board questions for any delivery partner.
Published Jul 13, 2026 · last updated Jul 13, 2026
- The Software Factory Is Coming for Your $40 Million SOW
Agentic software factories collapse the cost of the production layer. Run the judgment-vs-production audit on your integrator SOW before your vendor reprices.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Top 10 Copilot Use Cases You Should NOT Deploy Until Purview Says Yes
The ten most popular Copilot use cases, each with the Purview governance gate that must pass first: retention, labels, oversharing, certified measures.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Your Best AI Users Are Hiding From You
Your most advanced AI users are already inside your company, in secret. The four-step Amnesty Audit converts shadow AI into a governed talent register.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
Pricing & licensing · 2
- Microsoft Fabric Pricing and Capacity: The F SKU Cost Model
Microsoft Fabric F SKU pricing, CU counts, reserved vs pay-as-you-go break-even math, pause/resume savings and throttling risk, verified against Microsoft.
Published Aug 8, 2026 · last updated Aug 8, 2026
- Power BI Pricing and Licensing 2026: Every SKU, Real Costs
Every Power BI SKU priced and modelled for 2026: Pro, PPU and Fabric F SKUs, the P SKU retirement, the F64 break-even math, and the real hidden costs.
Published Aug 8, 2026 · last updated Aug 8, 2026
Microsoft Fabric · 5
- Fabric Capacity FinOps: Right-Sizing, Throttling, and Capacity Debt
Operationalize Microsoft Fabric capacity: CU-seconds explained, a monitoring cadence with thresholds, throttling response, pause savings and chargeback.
Published Aug 9, 2026 · last updated Aug 9, 2026
- Fabric IQ, Power BI, and the End of Copilot in Power BI as a Standalone Surface
Microsoft's Fabric IQ makes Power BI semantic models the grounding layer for every Copilot answer. Architecture, licensing math, and a 30-day readiness plan.
Published Jul 28, 2026 · last updated Jul 28, 2026
- Microsoft Fabric Consulting: What Enterprise Buyers Should Demand
What to demand from a Microsoft Fabric consulting partner: scope of work, capacity sizing method, Direct Lake proof, anti-patterns, and commercial models.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Microsoft Fabric vs Databricks: The 2026 Decision Framework
Microsoft Fabric vs Databricks in 2026: workload-fit matrix, honest cost models, a run-both reference architecture, lock-in risk and governance tradeoffs.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Power BI Premium to Fabric Capacity: The Migration Runbook
The Power BI Premium P SKU to Fabric F SKU migration runbook: phase owners and durations, workspace triage, cost-delta modelling, rollback and comms.
Published Aug 9, 2026 · last updated Aug 9, 2026
Power BI · 5
- Power BI Consulting Services: 2026 Enterprise Buyer's Guide
What Power BI consulting really costs, how engagements are scoped, the 10 questions to ask any vendor on the first call, and the red flags. July 2026.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Power BI Governance: The Enterprise Playbook
A native-first Power BI governance playbook: the four control rings, a tenant-settings hardening table, RACI, certification workflow, and sprawl burn-down.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Power BI Performance at Scale: The Slow-Report Triage Manual
Measure before you tune. A five-probe triage sequence for slow Power BI reports: visual, DAX, model, source and capacity, with thresholds and real fixes.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Prompt Engineering Is Dead. Your Semantic Model Is the New Spec.
Wharton research retired prompt tricks — specifications win. In Microsoft environments the specification is the semantic model, not the prompt box.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Semantic Model Certification: Making Power BI Safe for AI to Answer From
A numbered, auditable standard for certifying Power BI semantic models before Copilot answers from them: nine gates, audit evidence, decertification rules.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
Microsoft 365 & Copilot · 5
- M&A Day-1 IT Integration for Microsoft 365: The 5-Gate Cutover Model
The 5-Gate Cutover Model for M&A Microsoft 365 integration: entry and exit criteria, deal-timeline alignment, Day-1 minimum viable integration, TSA and RACI.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Microsoft 365 Tenant AI Readiness: TAR-8 (2026)
TAR-8 scores the eight Microsoft 365 surfaces AI deployments depend on — identity, data, content, Teams, Power BI, CRM, Azure, ownership — 0–3 with evidence.
Published Sep 17, 2026 · last updated Sep 17, 2026
- Microsoft 365 Tenant-to-Tenant Migration: The Complete 2026 Guide
The 2026 Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migration guide: phase owners and durations, identity-first sequencing, coexistence, cutover runbook, failure modes.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Tenant Consolidation and Divestiture: The Microsoft 365 Carve-Out Runbook
The Microsoft 365 carve-out runbook: consolidation vs divestiture, data-segregation evidence, the TSA clock, licensing unwind, and eDiscovery continuity.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
- Tenant-to-Tenant Migration Tools Compared: Native vs Five Vendors
Vendor-neutral tenant-to-tenant migration tool comparison: Microsoft native vs Quest, BitTitan, ShareGate, Cloudiway, AvePoint. Matrix, costs, failure modes.
Published Aug 10, 2026 · last updated Aug 10, 2026
AI governance & strategy · 7
- Agentic Workflows Meet the Vendor Master File
Andrew Ng's agentic workflows meet Gartner's 40% cancellation prediction in one place: the vendor master file, and the controls finance already has.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Cognitive Surrender Is a Balance-Sheet Item
Mollick's cognitive surrender, Holweg & Davenport's slopification, and Nadella's human-vs-token capital point at one unbooked write-down.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Dot, Dash, Star — and the Floor Under All Three
Allie K. Miller's Dot-Dash-Star framework sorts AI bets correctly — and every category inherits the same data floor, which is where they actually fail.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- If Every Employee Is a COO of AI Teammates, Where Is the Org Chart?
Allie K. Miller says AI is an autonomous teammate, not a tool. Then open the employment file: five questions every org chart has to answer for agents.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Mollick Says HR Should Lead the AI Transformation. He's Half Right — the CFO Signs the 10-K.
Wharton's case for HR-led AI transformation is strong but incomplete. Leading the change and owning the exposure are different jobs, held by different people.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
- Nearly Half of CFOs Have Never Held the AI Governance Meeting That Matters
A two-hour CFO agenda to define AI ambition, governed data, permitted autonomy, accountability, insurance, and model strategy before expanding Copilot.
Published Jul 15, 2026 · last updated Jul 15, 2026
- The Twilight of the Chatbot Is the Dawn of the Audit Trail
AI agent fleet management needs per-agent identity, scoped autonomy, deposition-grade audit trails, and a tested kill switch. Built on Entra, Purview, Defender.
Published Jul 16, 2026 · last updated Jul 16, 2026
About these insights
What is an insight, and how is it different from a blog post or an answer?
An insight is a long-form, dated standard or decision framework: it states a position, shows the evidence, and is meant to be cited. A blog post is an implementation how-to. An answer resolves one buyer question in a few hundred words. Each family has its own hub and its own dates.
How are insights verified and re-dated?
Every insight carries a published date and a last-updated date of its own and cites the Microsoft documentation, list-price source or record it relies on. It is re-dated only when its content changes; the "recently re-verified" strip on this page is ordered by that date.
How do I get a standard applied to my own tenant?
Bring the insight to a discovery call with a senior architect: contact@epcgroup.net or (888) 381-9725. Several insights are the written basis of a fixed-scope assessment; the call establishes which one fits and what it would cover.
Apply a standard to your own tenant
Multiple models. One truth.
