Customer overview
The customer is a leading American healthcare company that manufactures and distributes medical supplies. Operating in over 125 countries, the organization supports healthcare providers worldwide with products and clinical solutions that improve patient care. Among over 40,000 employees, Data and Analytics teams build data tables and share insights across the organization.
The challenge
The Data and Analytics teams had been facing challenges typical of large, regulated enterprises, including data spread across ten different systems. Each platform required separate tools, licenses, and maintenance efforts.
This fragmented setup created several challenges:
· High platform and licensing costs
· Slow onboarding of new data sources
· Inconsistent ranking results
· No standardized process for building and sharing data products
· Limited support for self‑service analytics, AI, and ML
To stay competitive, the organization needed a data platform that would allow them to efficiently access, integrate, and analyze data from multiple sources.
The solution
To modernize their data platform, the customer chose to implement Microsoft Fabric with OneLake as the unified data layer. As a Frontier AI organization with deep expertise in Fabric, we provided a combination of automation, architecture design, and engineering services to accelerate the implementation. We used a configuration-based data ingestion and job processing framework to streamline data onboarding across the Medallion architecture and reduced the number of notebooks and pipelines. We also used DevelopFAST, our AI-powered development tool, to automate key parts of the software development lifecycle. DevelopFAST generated user stories, technical design documents, and test cases from raw feature inputs. This reduced planning effort, improved code consistency, and shortened the time to first commit. Built-in AI functions, along with logging, auditing, and data quality checks, were all stored in OneLake.
Other services we provided included:
· Designing the Fabric architecture and delivering proof-of-concept solutions
· Developing data products using the Medallion architecture
· Capacity planning and performance optimization reviews
· Workshops, training sessions, and best practice recommendations to drive adoption
| Figure 1: Solution architecture |
Why OneLake?
The solution brought together data virtualization, data mesh architecture, centralized security, and desktop file explorer components within a single platform.
OneLake’s data virtualization technology enabled the organization to access ten disconnected systems, including cloud-hosted ERP platforms, on-prem systems, Oracle environments, and other databases. Using internal shortcuts in OneLake, teams could access source data directly without needing to move or replicate it.
Additionally, OneLake’s data mesh architecture functioned as a decentralized repository, enabling business domains to create and share their own data products across the organization.
OneSecurity allowed the organization to manage data access permissions with row-level, role-level, and object-level security. With OneLake, permissions could be defined in a single place, eliminating the need for defining security across multiple layers.
OneLake Desktop allowed teams to copy and move files locally as well as delete or rename Fabric items. This functionality enabled updating Fabric workspaces in a manner similar to a SharePoint drive integrated with Windows File Explorer.
Business impact
With Microsoft Fabric, the customer unified ten disconnected data sources into a single, secure platform with built-in AI capabilities.
The results were clear and measurable:
· Overall data platform costs were reduced from retiring licenses such as WebFOCUS
· Data onboarding time decreased by 40%
· Improved data accessibility with OneLake data virtualization and shortcuts
· Centralized security with OneSecurity
Future expansion
The organization continues to work with us to further modernize its analytics platform. Planned Data and Analytics initiatives include:
· Fabric’s new mirrored database feature to bring data directly into OneLake
· Enabling schema-level security using OneSecurity
· Migrating SAP data to OneLake using Fabric connectors
· Moving reports from Tableau to Power BI
These efforts will expand self-service capabilities and unlock AI-powered insights for users across the organization.
Interested in learning more?
As a Fabric Featured Partner and Frontier AI firm, MAQ Software helps enterprises unlock the full value of Microsoft Fabric. From implementing new data agents to optimizing existing platforms, we support organizations at every stage of their AI and analytics journey.
Contact us at CustomerSuccess@MAQSoftware.com or explore our apps or consulting services on Microsoft Azure Marketplace: