AI assistant — not human
EPC Group · Microsoft Services · 2026
End-to-end enterprise analytics platforms built on Azure — Microsoft Fabric + OneLake + Direct Lake, Synapse-to-Fabric migration, Azure Databricks integration, Power BI semantic models, governance-native architecture, AI + Copilot integration. 8-layer reference architecture for regulated enterprises.
Published June 24, 2026 · Updated continuously
Last updated June 24, 2026 by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
EPC Group designs and delivers end-to-end enterprise analytics platforms built on Azure covering 8 integrated layers: ingestion + integration (Data Factory + Fabric Pipelines + Event Hubs), storage + lakehouse (OneLake + Hybrid lakehouse and warehouse architectures unified under Fabric + Direct Lake), compute + engineering (Fabric Spark + Azure Databricks integration), semantic layer + modeling (optimized star schema, high-end DAX, calculation groups, reusable metric libraries), consumption + visualization (Power BI Service + Embedded + Copilot for Power BI), governance + security (comprehensive enterprise data governance frameworks via Microsoft Purview + Defender + Sentinel + Entra ID), AI + machine learning (Azure OpenAI + Azure AI Foundry + Copilot Studio integrated per EPC Group Governed AI on Microsoft Framework), and operations + DevOps (Fabric CI/CD + deployment pipelines + audit logging + activity tracking across platforms). Senior-architect-led delivery without junior consultants learning on the engagement. Compliance-native architectures for HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, NIST 800-171, CMMC 2.0, GDPR, Illinois BIPA, NYDFS Part 500, Washington MHMDA, FDA 21 CFR Part 11.
EPC Group's enterprise Azure analytics platform spans 8 integrated layers — ingestion, lakehouse storage, compute + engineering, semantic modeling, consumption, governance + security, AI + ML, and DevOps. Built on Microsoft Fabric + OneLake + Power BI + Azure Databricks + Purview. Synapse-to-Fabric migration patterns documented. Compliance-native for HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, NIST, CMMC, GDPR, BIPA, NYDFS, MHMDA. Senior-architect-led delivery, fixed-fee accelerator pricing, ongoing Microsoft Cloud Orchestrator retainer for run-state.
Every EPC Group enterprise Azure analytics platform engagement is structured around the same 8-layer reference architecture. Each layer has named Microsoft + Azure components, named architectural patterns, and named EPC Group proof points from production client deployments.
Components
Azure Data Factory + Microsoft Fabric Data Factory + Synapse Pipelines + Azure Event Hubs + Azure IoT Hub + Apache Kafka on HDInsight + Azure Logic Apps + Azure Functions for serverless ingestion
Pattern
Hybrid batch + streaming + change-data-capture ingestion from on-premises SQL Server + Oracle + SAP + Salesforce + Dynamics 365 + Workday + ServiceNow + REST APIs + file shares + IoT telemetry + clickstream + log streams.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group has shipped multi-source ingestion architectures spanning 50-200+ source systems for enterprise clients across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and government — including the documented CDC + reconciliation + lineage patterns required for SOX + HIPAA + GDPR audits.
Components
Microsoft OneLake (Fabric unified data lake) + Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 + Azure Blob Storage + Azure SQL Database + Azure Synapse Dedicated SQL Pool + Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL workloads + Azure Database for PostgreSQL / MySQL for OSS workloads
Pattern
Hybrid lakehouse and warehouse architectures unified under Fabric — Bronze (raw) + Silver (cleansed + conformed) + Gold (business-ready dimensional) zones in OneLake with Delta Lake format, with hot/warm/cold tiering aligned to access pattern and retention policy.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group has implemented OneLake-centered architectures replacing legacy Synapse + Azure Data Lake Gen2 + standalone SQL data marts. Direct Lake mode delivers Power BI query performance equal to or better than Import mode without the refresh schedule overhead.
Components
Microsoft Fabric Data Engineering (Spark notebooks, Lakehouse SQL, Pipelines) + Azure Databricks for advanced ML workloads + Azure Synapse Spark + Azure SQL serverless + Azure HDInsight for legacy Spark / Hadoop / HBase + Azure Stream Analytics for low-latency stream processing
Pattern
Spark on Fabric + Databricks integration for heavy ML workloads; Lakehouse SQL for analyst-facing ELT; medallion architecture (Bronze → Silver → Gold) with Delta Lake ACID transactions; Fabric capacity planning aligned to workload patterns + cost optimization.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group has shipped Spark + Databricks + Fabric integrations including the Microsoft Solutions Architect-validated patterns for moving from Synapse Dedicated SQL Pool to Fabric Warehouse, from Databricks Delta to Fabric Lakehouse, and from legacy Hadoop / Hive to Fabric Lakehouse.
Components
Power BI semantic models (formerly datasets) + Microsoft Fabric semantic model + Azure Analysis Services for legacy AAS workloads + Tabular Object Model + DAX + calculation groups + composite models bridging Direct Lake + Import + DirectQuery
Pattern
Optimized star schema and relational modeling for analytics performance + high-end DAX modeling with calculation groups and reusable metric libraries + shared datasets and centralized semantic models to avoid report sprawl + row-level + object-level security at scale.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group has shipped 1,500+ enterprise Power BI semantic models including the documented patterns for sub-second query performance on billion-row fact tables via Direct Lake + columnstore + aggregations + composite model design.
Components
Power BI Service + Power BI Premium + Power BI Embedded + Power BI Report Server (on-premises) + Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Analytics + Microsoft Copilot for Power BI + paginated reports + Excel-with-Power-BI-datasets
Pattern
Highly intuitive, visual-first, WCAG-compliant dashboard experiences + executive scorecards and decision-support systems + Power BI Embedded for SaaS and customer portals + Power BI Embedded analytics for ISV applications + Copilot for Power BI natural-language Q&A.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group has shipped enterprise Power BI deployments serving executive + operational + analyst + customer-facing personas across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, and government clients.
Components
Microsoft Purview Data Map + Purview Data Catalog + Purview Data Lineage + Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels + Microsoft Defender for Cloud + Azure Sentinel + Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access + Privileged Identity Management
Pattern
Comprehensive enterprise data governance frameworks and operating models + governance-first analytics and BI architecture + audit-ready governance, logging, and monitoring + governance for multi-tenant and multi-geo setups + data classification, retention, and sensitivity labeling integrated into Fabric workspace + OneLake artifacts.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group has shipped Purview + Sensitivity Label deployments covering >85% of in-scope analytical data within first 6 months for HIPAA + SOC 2 + FedRAMP + NIST 800-171 + CMMC 2.0 + GDPR + Illinois BIPA + NYDFS Part 500 + Washington MHMDA regulatory environments.
Components
Azure OpenAI Service + Azure AI Foundry + Azure Machine Learning + Microsoft Fabric Data Science + Cognitive Services (Computer Vision, Speech, Language) + Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 + Copilot Studio agents
Pattern
AI + Copilot governance with Purview controls + AI-powered and Copilot-ready Power BI dashboards + Azure analytics for AI and digital twin programs + governance-isolated tenant configurations for Azure OpenAI in regulated industries + SR 11-7 + EU AI Act high-risk model risk management.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group ships AI + Copilot integration into Azure analytics platforms per the EPC Group Governed AI on Microsoft Framework (May 2026) — Microsoft Purview + Entra ID + Fabric + Copilot grounding + Defender XDR integrated reference architecture for regulated enterprises.
Components
Microsoft Fabric Deployment Pipelines + Azure DevOps + GitHub Enterprise + Fabric CI/CD + Power BI ALM Toolkit + Tabular Editor + Azure Monitor + Application Insights + Log Analytics + Microsoft Purview Audit logging
Pattern
Fabric CI/CD and deployment pipelines + Power Platform ALM and DevOps integration + audit logging and activity tracking across platforms + tool-based governance and monitoring automation + workspace governance and certification models + continuous optimization of automation, pipelines, and infrastructure for ROI.
EPC Group proof point
EPC Group ships full Fabric + Power BI DevOps pipelines with documented Dev → Test → UAT → Prod promotion gates, Tabular Editor automated build + deployment, Fabric ALM with deployment rules, and Azure Monitor + Application Insights dashboards for operational observability.
End-to-end Azure and Fabric architecture design. Most Azure analytics consultancies focus on one layer of the stack — data engineering, or Power BI, or governance, or AI. EPC Group designs + builds across all 8 layers as a single integrated architecture, eliminating the gaps that surface 6-12 months into a multi-vendor build when the lakehouse + semantic model + governance + Copilot layers don't fit together properly.
Microsoft-specialized Power BI delivery. 1,500+ enterprise Power BI implementations (source-linked at /about/facts). Founder Errin O'Connor co-authored a Microsoft Press Power BI book. EPC Group Power BI delivery covers semantic model design + DAX optimization + calculation groups + row-level security + object-level security + composite model design + Direct Lake mode + Power BI Embedded for ISVs + Power BI governance Center of Excellence frameworks and controls.
Hybrid lakehouse and warehouse architectures unified under Fabric. EPC Group has shipped OneLake-centered architectures replacing legacy Synapse Dedicated SQL Pool + Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 + standalone Power BI Premium for enterprise clients. The migration pattern is documented and repeatable, with Microsoft Solutions Architect-validated patterns for Synapse → Fabric, Databricks Delta → Fabric Lakehouse, and Hadoop/Hive → Fabric Lakehouse transitions.
Comprehensive enterprise data governance frameworks and operating models. Microsoft Purview Data Map + Data Catalog + Data Lineage + Information Protection sensitivity labels integrated into the analytics platform from Phase 1, not retrofit after audit. EPC Group ships the governance operating model with named accountable roles (Data Steward, Data Owner, Data Custodian, Information Security Officer, Privacy Officer) — not just the Purview technology configuration.
Compliance-native architectures. The platform handles HIPAA + HITRUST + SOC 2 + FedRAMP + NIST 800-171 + CMMC 2.0 + GDPR + Illinois BIPA + NYDFS Part 500 + Washington MHMDA + California CCPA + CPRA + CMIA + FDA 21 CFR Part 11 + EU AI Act simultaneously when client industry + geography requires the overlap. EPC Group has shipped Azure Government + Microsoft 365 GCC + GCC High deployments for federal + DoD + IC clients including the documented IL5/IL6 boundary configurations.
AI + Copilot governance integrated from day one. Per the EPC Group Governed AI on Microsoft Framework (published May 2026): Microsoft Purview + Entra ID + Fabric + Copilot grounding + Defender XDR integrated reference architecture for regulated enterprises. Copilot for Power BI deployments include semantic model annotation + synonym maps + Copilot grounding so natural-language responses are accurate, governed, and auditable.
High-touch, senior-architect-led delivery without junior consultants learning on the engagement. One named accountable senior architect owns the architecture decisions + executive sponsor relationship + cross-functional integration end-to-end across the 8-layer stack. Fixed-fee accelerator projects with structured, transparent engagement models for the initial 12-24 week build; transition to ongoing Microsoft Cloud Orchestrator Practice retainer for continuous architecture + delivery + run-state operations.
An enterprise Azure analytics platform is the end-to-end stack — ingestion + storage + compute + semantic layer + consumption + governance + AI + DevOps — that turns enterprise data into governed, performance-optimized, decision-supporting analytics. Microsoft Fabric (GA Nov 2023) consolidates what was previously 8-12 separate Azure services into a single SaaS platform with unified compute, OneLake storage, integrated DevOps, and tenant-wide governance. The architectural shift: instead of stitching Synapse + Data Factory + Data Lake Gen2 + Databricks + Power BI Premium + Purview + separate Spark clusters, you stand up Fabric capacities with the workloads enabled and OneLake as the unified data plane. EPC Group migrates enterprises from the previous stack to the consolidated Fabric model.
EPC Group recommends Fabric migration when one or more of the following is true: (1) Synapse Dedicated SQL Pool is approaching capacity or compute cost ceilings, (2) the enterprise has multiple separate Power BI Premium capacities that would benefit from unified Fabric capacity sharing, (3) Direct Lake mode would materially improve Power BI query performance vs current Import / DirectQuery patterns, (4) the enterprise wants to consolidate Data Factory + Data Lake Gen2 + Synapse Spark + Power BI Premium billing into a single Fabric SKU, or (5) net-new analytics greenfield where Fabric-native architecture is clearly preferable to stitching multiple Azure services. EPC Group runs a 2-week Synapse-to-Fabric Readiness Assessment that quantifies the migration cost, capacity sizing, and operational benefit before committing to a multi-quarter migration program.
Azure Databricks remains the preferred platform for advanced ML, large-scale data engineering, and Delta Lake-native workloads in EPC Group enterprise architectures — particularly where Spark workload optimization, MLflow integration, or Delta Live Tables provide capabilities Fabric Data Engineering does not yet match. EPC Group integration pattern: Databricks Unity Catalog mirrored into OneLake via shortcuts, Databricks Delta tables exposed as Fabric Lakehouse tables via Unity Catalog + OneLake shortcut, Fabric Data Engineering Spark notebooks for analyst-facing workloads, Databricks for ML + heavy data engineering. The two platforms coexist in EPC Group reference architectures — the choice between them is workload-by-workload, not platform-vs-platform.
EPC Group ships optimized star schema and relational modeling for analytics performance with the following pattern: Direct Lake mode for billion-row fact tables (eliminates Import refresh overhead, delivers sub-second queries via columnar OneLake storage), composite model design layering Direct Lake fact tables + Import dimension tables + DirectQuery for ultra-fresh real-time tables, aggregations + automatic aggregations for pre-computed summary tables, partition strategy aligned to query pattern (date-based + business-key-based hybrid), high-end DAX modeling with calculation groups and reusable metric libraries to avoid measure proliferation, and row-level + object-level security at scale via Tabular Object Model. Documented enterprise outcomes: sub-second query performance on billion-row fact tables in production for financial services + healthcare + retail + manufacturing clients.
Comprehensive enterprise data governance frameworks and operating models integrated from day one, not retrofit after audit findings. Components: Microsoft Purview Data Map (automated discovery + catalog of all Azure + Fabric + Synapse + Databricks + Power BI assets), Purview Data Lineage (column-level lineage across Fabric pipelines + Power BI semantic models), Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels integrated into OneLake + Fabric workspaces + Power BI semantic models, Microsoft Defender for Cloud + Microsoft Sentinel for security operations + threat detection on the analytics stack, Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access for risk-based access control, Privileged Identity Management for just-in-time elevation, and audit logging integration into the client SOC + GRC platform. EPC Group ships the operating model with named accountable roles (Data Steward, Data Owner, Data Custodian, Information Security Officer, Privacy Officer) — not just the technology.
EPC Group ships Copilot + Azure OpenAI integration per the EPC Group Governed AI on Microsoft Framework (published May 2026). Microsoft Copilot for Power BI provides natural-language Q&A against governed Power BI semantic models — EPC Group deployment includes semantic model annotation + synonym maps + Copilot grounding configuration so the natural-language responses are accurate, governed, and auditable. Azure OpenAI integration provides custom AI applications grounded against OneLake + Fabric data via Azure AI Foundry — EPC Group deployment includes governance-isolated tenant configurations, Purview sensitivity-label propagation into AI prompts + completions, SR 11-7 + EU AI Act model risk management workflow for regulated-industry AI deployments, and Copilot Studio agents for line-of-business AI use cases (executive summarization, customer service triage, supplier email assistant). All AI + Copilot work integrates into the governance + security layer, not bolted on after.
High-touch, senior-architect-led delivery without junior consultants learning on the engagement. The named accountable EPC senior architect owns the architecture decisions + executive sponsor relationship + cross-functional integration; named data engineering consultants build the Fabric + Databricks pipelines; named Power BI consultants build the semantic models + reports; named governance consultant configures Purview + sensitivity labels + lineage + DevOps + audit. Engagement structure: 2-week Azure Analytics Readiness Assessment (fixed-fee), then 12-24 week initial build (fixed-fee accelerator with milestone-based billing), then transition to ongoing Microsoft Cloud Orchestrator Practice retainer for continuous architecture + delivery + run-state operations. End-to-end Azure and Fabric architecture design, end-to-end migration and modernization services with post-cutover hypercare, formal managed services for Azure, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform.
Compliance-native architectures for HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, NIST 800-171, CMMC 2.0, GDPR, Illinois BIPA, NYDFS Part 500, Washington MHMDA, California CCPA + CPRA + CMIA, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and EU AI Act high-risk category. The regulatory architecture is built into the platform from Phase 1, not retrofit: Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels carry data-classification context end-to-end from ingestion through OneLake through Fabric pipelines through Power BI semantic models through Copilot grounding; Microsoft Defender + Sentinel deliver regulated-industry-grade SOC; Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access + PIM enforce least-privilege + just-in-time access for regulated data; Azure Government + Microsoft 365 GCC + GCC High deployments available for federal + DoD + IC clients. Documented EPC Group regulated-industry experience: FRBNY TARP eDiscovery (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Congressional Oversight Committee), Vivek Kundra federal IT advisory (first U.S. CIO), National Archives, U.S. intelligence community, multi-hospital health systems, derivatives + futures + HFT operators, biotech + medical device + clinical research enterprises.
Reach EPC Group for a 30-minute discovery call. We'll review your current Azure + Power BI + Synapse + Databricks + Fabric posture, identify the 3 biggest leverage points, and outline the 8-layer reference architecture tailored to your industry + regulatory + integration requirements.