In the ever-evolving landscape of data tools, several names stand out, such as Databricks, Tableau, Snowflake, CData, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Service’s data suites, etc... However, for our Microsoft-centric clients, we've found an ideal combination: Fivetran for data integration, Microsoft Fabric for data transformations and storage, and Power BI for data visualizations. These industry-leading tools can quickly build a comprehensive data platform, empowering your business to leverage data more effectively. Let's dive in to learn more.
Background
Fivetran
Fivetran is a leading data integration tool that automates the process of connecting and loading data from various sources into your data warehouse. By providing over 500 pre-built connectors and a fully managed service, Fivetran eliminates the need for manual coding and maintenance, ensuring your data pipelines are reliable and always up-to-date.
Microsoft Fabric
Fabric is a powerful, integrated data platform designed to cover multiple aspects of the data stack. Launched by Microsoft in 2023, it offers a comprehensive suite of tools, including Data Factory, Data Flows, Notebooks, and OneLake, for cleaning, enriching, and storing data. These tools simplify analysis and insight generation. As explored in our previous analysis of Fabric vs. Databricks, Fabric is easy to set up, manage, and use, making it a great option when building a modern data stack, especially for Azure and Microsoft customers since there are great integrations with Fabric (i.e. Dataverse).
Power BI
Power BI is Microsoft's premier data visualization tool, empowering users to create interactive and shareable dashboards. With its intuitive interface, extensive chart options, and high customizability, Power BI enables businesses to transform data stored on Fabric (i.e. OneLake) into actionable insights. Over the past decade, Power BI has improved significantly while remaining affordable, prompting many customers to migrate from other business intelligence tools, such as Tableau.
The Modern Data Stack
Now, let’s discuss how to integrate these tools to build a modern data stack, quickly and cost effectively, using our internal data platform at Pioneer as an example. Here’s a high-level diagram:
First, purchase Fabric capacity in Azure, connect it to a new Fabric workspace, and create a data lake on OneLake.
Next, leverage Fivetran’s prebuilt connectors to set up data integrations between data sources, such as LinkedIn, Google Analytics, etc..., and feed into the data lake. For data sources without prebuilt connectors in Fivetran, use Python notebooks in Fabric to develop API connections. Schedule Fivetran and the Fabric notebooks to refresh data on a recurring basis.
Finally, with data flowing through Fivetran and the custom APIs into OneLake, build dashboards in Power BI using the native OneLake data connector.
Pricing
Start building this modern data stack by leveraging free trials then starting as low as $150/month. Cost to scale varies based on the numbers of users, size of data, and processing volume.
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Conclusion
Building a modern data stack with Fivetran, Fabric, and Power BI offers a powerful solution for data integration, transformation, storage, and visualization. This combination streamlines data operations, enhances data quality, and provides valuable insights for informed decision-making, all while allowing companies to get started quickly and cost-efficiently.
At Pioneer, we practice what we preach. We've leveraged this stack to improve our internal operations and deliver greater value to our clients.
Schedule a demo of Fivetran, Fabric, and/or Power BI with Pioneer’s Data & Analytics practice to discuss how your business can build a modern data stack.