My organization had a large amount of sensitive data stored primarily in SharePoint Online. We also operate in a highly regulated industry. Therefore, we wanted to take advantage of some of the features offered by Microsoft Purview. Initially, we focused on sensitivity and retention labels, but we later expanded to include data loss prevention and benchmarking our data against the built-in regulations offered by Purview.
Senior Microsoft Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The sensitivity and retention options in Purview are excellent
Pros and Cons
- "Purview helped us automate and control our data without having to rely on people to manually tag documents with specific retention periods."
- "Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
It is important that Purview delivers data protection across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments. Many organizations have multiple systems, which can be difficult to manage. I know that many of my clients are currently trying to amalgamate their systems and bring them all under one umbrella, but there will always be cases where organizations will not be able to have everything in a single software solution like Microsoft 365. Being able to take advantage of Purview's excellent features and deploy them across not only 365 but also other systems makes it much easier. I think this is one of the reasons why organizations are starting to look at things like Purview: it has the ability to deploy more widely, saving organizations a lot of time and effort and centralizing control.
It is important that Purview can connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices, as well as other data and SaaS apps. Many organizations issue portable devices to their staff, especially those with a high percentage of hybrid remote workers. These mobile devices have become essential, both personally and professionally. Having governance across multiple devices is a brilliant feature.
Purview's integrated data link compliance is a great feature. The biggest selling point for me is the ability to deploy it from one location; I haven't been able to manage everything in one place before. This makes it much easier for local administrators, and it can also be used across different environments.
The connectors for supporting non-Microsoft data sources are a brilliant feature and a smart move by Microsoft. They allow us to apply our governance policies to data sources such as Twitter and WhatsApp, which are used by many organizations for customer interaction. This is important because it allows us to protect our customers' data, even when they are interacting with us on multiple platforms.
My experience of the critical regulations that Purview was built taking into account is predominantly UK regulations. When I first started at my organization, part of my role was data protection. So being able to benchmark our data against the GDPR and some of the UK's specific regulations was fantastic. But now I work with multinational clients, so we have offices in various locations in different geographies. So having specific legislation for the areas in which they operate is brilliant. More organizations are spread across different continents and countries. So being able to apply different legislation to different parts of their estate depending on where their offices are operating is a fantastic feature.
We are currently updating our data loss prevention policy internally, and we highly recommend that our clients use Microsoft Purview for DLP as well. I demonstrated Purview to a client a few months ago, and they were incredibly impressed with how effective it can be. I think they were particularly surprised by how quickly it can identify sensitive data. For example, we did a quick test where we uploaded a document that contained a piece of personal information that we had asked the Purview policy to look for. As soon as we uploaded the document to a SharePoint document library, we received an email alert warning us that the sensitive information was present and could be accessed by others. The alert was almost instantaneous. This shows that Purview is a very effective system for protecting data.
Microsoft Purview has enabled us to truly embed a culture of data governance among staff. This has been a major success, not just within our own organization, but also with our partners and clients. Many people talk about the importance of data governance, but Purview has helped us to increase the knowledge base of our users and empower them to take ownership of their data, rather than relying solely on IT professionals or data protection staff. This is a real positive for any business, especially those that work with sensitive information. The automation capabilities of Purview have also been a huge hit with our users. The ability to automatically apply data labels and implement advanced encryption policies has made it much easier for us to protect our data.
In previous years, we have used various methods and systems to try to achieve the same outcome, including spreadsheets and stand-alone systems. We are heavy users of Microsoft 365, so it is our primary system, but we also use other systems. Having one solution that can deploy our core policies and protections across different devices and platforms.
Microsoft Purview's reduction of solutions simplified our data governance. In the past, our data was scattered across different locations, making it difficult to manage and protect. Purview has brought our data together into one place, making it easier for users to access and for us to implement data governance policies. I believe that the more systems we have, the greater the risk of data protection incidents and the more difficult it is to deploy a unified data governance strategy. Reducing the complexity of our IT infrastructure goes hand-in-hand with improving data governance.
Some of the features in Purview have illuminated areas of our data site. In particular, when we have worked with organizations with large volumes of data, it has helped us to identify issues. For example, benchmarking our state against GDPR highlighted aspects of our operations that were not compliant. This was more important than the areas that were compliant, as it helped us to focus our attention on where we needed to make improvements. This helps us to provide assurance to our board.
We are about to launch an internal awareness campaign about AI and how we can use it. Microsoft Purview is on the list of AI solutions we will be considering. We are also about to start using Microsoft Copilot, and some of our staff are already using ChatGPT. We are looking at AI solutions within Microsoft 365 and some of our other systems. This is an area that we are very keen to develop, and it is something that our clients are also interested in. We can explore this in more detail in the coming months.
I've been amazed at how quickly the automation responds, especially when we have a large dataset. It takes that pain away from Teams and acts as a monitor for us. It's saved a huge amount of time, and once it can demonstrate internally or to clients how effectively it does what they expect it to do, that will save more time, but people who are responsible for this information need a lot of reassurance.
Purview enables us to demonstrate our compliance in real-time. We provide live reports to auditors and anyone responsible for information security risk management. We can show them our compliance status in real-time, which is excellent.
Our meetings with compliance regulators are positive when they are familiar with Purview. However, if they are not, we must be able to demonstrate to them how effective the solution is and how it can assist the organization in improving its data governance and data security. This has made the meetings much more positive, as the regulators are more assured that we are being more responsive and effective with the information we hold.
Automation plays a significant role in reducing the time to action on insider threats. We have had procedures in place for identifying, mitigating, and responding to specific risks, both internally and accidentally. However, our previous procedures were very manual, which obviously takes time. Now, in some situations, we can respond almost instantly. Automation has significantly improved our response time. Data breaches, for example, used to take a long time to investigate under our old process. From when a user reported a breach to when we could start investigating, it took hours to complete the necessary paperwork and documentation. But by using automation and some of the features in PurView, we've been able to reduce that time to minutes. In some areas, we've probably been able to reduce investigation time by 50 percent or more.
Time-saving is probably the most important benefit of automation and AI. The more time we can save people, across the board, not just Purview, the better. When we can automate tasks and improve response times, it takes away the need for manual input and frees people to concentrate on more important things. This naturally has a financial benefit. From my role, I've seen that the time savings have been really important. In some areas, we've seen time savings of up to 50 percent. So, when deployed properly, the benefits of automation and AI are huge.
Our ability to oversee compliance using Purview has been a game-changer. We have developed our own in-house compliance and risk management software, which I have been involved in. However, using Purview has been even more impactful. In addition to the automation and time savings, the key thing for us is the educational aspect. Purview helps us to raise awareness and make the organization more data-aware, regardless of role. This enables us to identify issues and, more importantly, rectify them.
What is most valuable?
The sensitivity and retention options in Purview are excellent. We had an internal document retention schedule, but when we first created it, much of our data was in paper form. As our data became digitized and moved to SharePoint Online, particularly when we migrated away from our on-premises file server, the ability to replicate that retention schedule in Purview and deploy it across all of our SharePoint sites and OneDrive made life so much easier. Purview helped us automate and control our data without having to rely on people to manually tag documents with specific retention periods.
Similarly, our sensitivity labels were scattered throughout SharePoint Online. We wanted to push data governance internally, not just from a technical data management perspective, but also from an education perspective. So, we created a data classification system based on sensitivity and deployed it across our 365 apps, including Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. This not only allowed us to protect more sensitive data and ensure that it was being handled responsibly, but it also allowed us to use features like prompting users to apply a label to a document before interacting with it. This helped us deploy labels more quickly and also got staff thinking about the data they were working with.
In my experience, particularly in organizations that work with a lot of sensitive data, staff can become complacent over time and desensitized to the importance of looking after that data if they're using it day in and day out. So, having a visual prompt to apply a label and think about the documents they're working with and what that means was a really useful way of promoting data governance across our business.
What needs improvement?
Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people. For example, when I first used Purview, I noticed that one of the self-compliance centers had changed its name. Microsoft has done a huge amount of updates, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of what Purview can do. We almost constantly have to explore it.
Maybe Microsoft could have a 365 roadmap where we can look at upcoming features, or some kind of bulletin announcement for Purview users that explains new features and what they can do in simple terms.
We could also look at the menu settings. In my experience of using Purview, we've never used it as an exclusive system for IT professionals or technical staff. We were very keen that other specialists around the business made use of some of these features because we thought that some of what Purview could do was relevant to other departments as well as IT. For example, we have HR managers and financial staff who use it.
I think that some of the terminology in Purview is pitched toward IT and tech professionals, and it may not be immediately understood by other specialists. This is something that could be improved.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Purview Data Governance
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Purview Data Governance. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
918,957 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't seen any issues so far with stability. I know that some policies can take a little bit of time to roll out, depending on how widely they're being deployed. For example, the first sensitivity policy I created took 24-48 hours to start functioning for users. However, this is to be expected in the cloud, as it can take time for changes to filter down. Once the policy became available, I didn't see any issues with it at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview is scalable. When I first deployed it, we deliberately scaled it up by deploying a small number of cache users first, then an individual team, and eventually ramping it up across all of our SharePoint environments, we were able to deploy it widely across Teams, OneDrive, and Outlook as well.
How are customer service and support?
All the interactions I've had with the technical support, they've been really good. So I've got no complaints at all.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we had processes in place for things like data protection, naming conventions, and so on, but we were very reliant on our IT infrastructure for governance. Purview has allowed us to act more effectively and quickly, and to get more people involved at an administrator level. This has been empowering for some teams, particularly HR, which can now run policies appropriate for them without having to rely on IT. This has been a very positive change for those teams.
How was the initial setup?
Purview was straightforward to deploy, but complex to bring staff up to speed. Like any organization, we have people with varying levels of understanding of these systems and what they are trying to achieve. So, while it was easy for our team members to create and deploy Purview, the education piece took time. For example, we deployed sensitivity and retention labels on a team-by-team basis, training each team and bringing them up to speed before moving on. We found this to be the easiest way to deliver the training internally. Overall, I think Purview is very straightforward from a technical point of view, but the difficulty of bringing staff up to speed will vary depending on the organization.
A core group of eight of us evaluated the various aspects of what Purview could do. We took ownership of the areas that applied to our roles or departments to deploy sensitivity and retention policies. It took us four months. We only took a few days to create the policies and set up the labels. However, we wanted to manage the rollout carefully because training was key to ensuring that staff would get the most out of the system. So, we didn't rush the rollout. However, the actual technical side, the creation itself, only took a few days, or a couple of meetings.
What was our ROI?
We recommend Purview to clients and don't know if they see an ROI. However, in my previous role at a previous organization, we used Purview internally. I cannot speak to exact figures, but I do know that our creditors regularly reviewed our viability, and data governance, data assurance, and data protection. Being able to demonstrate that we have these tools available to make us more secure as an organization and to protect the sensitive information we hold obviously had an effect on our reputation and viability in the eyes of our creditors and auditors. As a business, I would say that we felt Purview was worth the investment in that particular situation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
To get the full features of Purview, we currently need E5 enterprise licenses, which are expensive. I'm not sure what Microsoft's business model is for this, because we can acquire some of the features of Purview, or we can access it by speaking to our Microsoft partners or vendors. But I think Microsoft is currently pitching Purview primarily to medium to large organizations. I believe there is a real appetite for data governance in smaller businesses as well because all businesses have information that needs to be protected and governed effectively. I have clients who own small businesses who cannot justify the cost of E5 enterprise licenses. Some of them are on business standard or business premium licenses. I think Microsoft should consider reducing the price of Purview or making it more available to more people. Perhaps Microsoft could offer a scaled-down version of Purview. I know there is an appetite for Purview among smaller businesses, but they often have to do a cost-benefit analysis and decide that the additional cost is not justified. It's a shame because they would really benefit from some of the features of Purview.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview nine out of ten. Purview is a highly effective and useful feature in Microsoft 365. As a technical system, it is brilliant. However, I am concerned that it may be too expensive for smaller businesses, which is a shame.
The first time I used and rolled out Purview, it was for multiple departments in a medium-sized business. By the end of the rollout, everyone was using it. Internally, we have deployed Purview to two of our geographical locations, but we still have some others to roll it out to. With my clients, the ones who have shown an interest in Purview and are using it tend to be larger businesses that work across geographies. They are deploying Purview to their various office locations in different countries. The speed of deployment depends on the size of the company. We have 150 users.
Purview needs to be reviewed periodically to ensure that the policies are still appropriate and effective. We have tried to automate as much of this process as possible, so from a maintenance point of view, Purview does not require much manual effort. However, we do have a core group of people who regularly review Purview to stay ahead of new features and to determine whether they are appropriate for our organization.
We are currently reviewing some of the new features and redoing many of our policies. In some cases, we are considering switching from manual hard copy or written policies to policies in Purview, either to work alongside their document or to replace it. We will be gearing up for this transition soon.
I would test Purview, explore its features, and seek advice from people who have used it or from Microsoft themselves. This would help me to understand what it can do. I think it is important to avoid keeping Purview as an IT-only tool. Instead, promote its capabilities to a wider audience, including other stakeholders. Once creating and deploying solutions in Purview, I recommend deploying them to a targeted area first and then scaling them up. If a retention policy is suddenly deployed across the entire estate, people may not understand what they are looking at and may resist using it. My advice is to learn about Purview, share the learned knowledge with others, and involve other areas of the business in its deployment. Also, think carefully about how to deploy Purview in a way that minimizes disruption.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Manager Enterprise Data and Analytics at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees
Helps classify data quickly and effortlessly, saves us time, and improves visibility
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to classify data quickly and effortlessly is arguably Microsoft Purview's most valuable feature."
- "Reflecting organizational changes within Purview is impractical."
What is our primary use case?
To ensure compliance with numerous regulations for our data governance initiative, we employ Microsoft Purview for data classification.
How has it helped my organization?
In our specific case, we only have on-premises servers and the same Microsoft cloud platform, Azure. I have not used Microsoft Purview with any other cloud providers like AWS or anything like that. However, it appears that Purview can be used to protect data across multiple clouds and platforms.
In the future, it could be important for us that Purview can connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices. We will be onboarding data that requires updating some of the tables, descriptions, and other aspects. In that case, it would be beneficial for users to be able to access it from different devices. However, in my case and for the people in IT, we will always be using computers.
Microsoft Purview's native integration with Azure Dynamics and Office compliance is good. We have utilized it with Synapse Analytics and Data Factory, both Microsoft products. The integration is seamless and efficient. However, in the context of Synapse Analytics, its value proposition is less evident. While it is a nice feature, I cannot fully grasp its significance.
It is crucial that Purview was built with consideration for critical regulations from around the world. This is an integral part of the classification rules and it simplifies our work. However, I haven't seen specific references to regulations such as GDPR or PII. There are numerous laws in different states, as well as preferences here in Canada, but I haven't come across specific examples. Nevertheless, the classifications encompass a wide range of government information, sensitive data like financial information, and personal information based on various formats that we can even adjust or create our own. So, it's a positive aspect.
Purview has assisted us in creating an updated catalog that is more realistic. It has also enabled us to quickly classify our data. Additionally, we aim to enrich the data catalog with more metadata, both now and in the future. While this process is primarily manual, we are exploring ways to involve business users to streamline it.
It has improved the visibility into our estate.
Purview allows us to demonstrate our compliance on a near real-time basis. While executing a single scan will provide updated information, it doesn't provide true real-time visibility. To achieve the closest to real-time compliance monitoring, we can execute data extraction processes every four hours.
We have saved around 40 hours per month on some of our projects, which also leads to cost savings.
What is most valuable?
The ability to classify data quickly and effortlessly is arguably Microsoft Purview's most valuable feature. It can scan all tables and columns, identifying those that contain personal names, date builds, or other sensitive information.
What needs improvement?
I am interested in exploring the process of data scanning to identify data lines that do not contain stored procedures. This would allow us to detect potential black boxes within our data, where we are unable to trace the flow of information and identify all instances of stored procedures. Additionally, we would like to expand the reporting capabilities beyond Power BI to encompass other visualization tools such as Tableau, Looker, and others.
Reflecting organizational changes within Purview is impractical. Any such changes necessitate discarding existing data and starting anew, which increases both the cost and time required for maintenance. Therefore, I believe that enhancing Purview's maintainability is crucial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Purview a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Purview is easily scalable in the cloud.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team was readily available for a Zoom call and was able to view my screen and provide assistance. The only downside was that I ultimately resolved the issue myself, which suggests that the local Microsoft support may not be as knowledgeable.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used other solutions other than Purview but it doesn't encompass the entire data management lifecycle. For example, Tableau has a data management suite, but it's primarily focused on analyzing reports, enforcing visualization governance, and managing data within Tableau itself. It doesn't extend to data sources or beyond that. Other data management tools in development offer similar functionality, but they may not have specific classifications for personal information.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was straightforward. The cloud administrator handled the subscription and all the necessary paperwork, while I proceeded with the setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is reasonable considering its value.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview nine out of ten. Purview is a good product but still has some areas to improve.
Thus far, we haven't had any comprehensive maintenance for Purview. While there is maintenance required for scanning new servers, that's essentially the extent of our maintenance efforts. We may need to make significant changes to Purview's structure to enhance its usability. Purview's current structure resembles that of an organizational department. For instance, if a marketing application is mistakenly scanned under HR, I cannot simply move it to the correct location. Instead, I must discard all existing data and start from scratch.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Purview Data Governance
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Purview Data Governance. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
918,957 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Offers cross-platform capabilities, centralized data management, and a variety of features that enable compliance
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspect of Purview is its PowerShell connectivity, enabling automation."
- "Setting up Purview in a production tenant proved challenging due to a lack of clear documentation on permission requirements."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Purview helps our business identify valuable information across various data types by using machine learning and customizable tags. It then allows users to export this data with PowerShell and combine it with metadata from other Microsoft products, facilitating both data analysis and migration processes.
How has it helped my organization?
While I haven't used Purview's cross-platform capabilities, I'm impressed by Microsoft's integration of its various solutions, including ComplianceOne and SharePoint, which cater to large enterprises. A deep dive into the functionality confirmed this positive impression.
The ability of Microsoft Purview to connect across devices, including Macs like mine, is a major benefit. While I was surprised to find PowerShell running smoothly on Mac, Purview itself has been user-friendly and avoided the issues I've read about online. This ease of use is crucial for me.
My previous projects focused on M365, but the next step is integrating Azure Virtual Machines into our solutions. In this context, Purview's ability to natively integrate compliance across both Azure Dynamics and Office 365 is crucial for ensuring our work scales effectively.
The biggest advantage of Purview is its ability to centralize data management. This multi-platform tool integrates data assets from across the company, providing a reliable and unified way to handle data procedures. This consistency, a hallmark of Microsoft products, is valuable for many users.
Designed for our regulated environment, Purview offers a variety of features that enable us to develop compliant solutions even when limitations seem to restrict what's achievable.
Purview has helped save us time through automation.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspect of Purview is its PowerShell connectivity, enabling automation. The content explorer helps visualize how classifiers, including custom-sensitive information types, identify content. Purview even allows testing these custom types with a dedicated button. Overall, PowerShell governance and export capabilities significantly improve our workflow by automating tasks and simplifying data extraction.
What needs improvement?
While Microsoft Purview addresses global regulations, it lacks out-of-the-box functionality. Extensive development is needed to define sensitive information types and train rectifiers for each customer. Most importantly, Purview currently lacks multi-language support, hindering its use in multilingual environments. Since communication compliance is the only exception, future updates should include sensitive information types and keywords in major languages, especially those relevant to the European Union. This would require customization efforts to create equivalents for these information types and keywords in other languages.
The rapid pace of feature changes in Purview, including marketing shifts, retirements, merges, and splits, creates challenges. Documentation struggles to keep up, leaving users behind. Further compounding this issue is the inconsistency of PowerShell modules. While some, like the SAP exporter, function well, others, like the trainable classifier's missing fetch module, significantly limit the usability of a potentially valuable feature. This lack of polish hinders automation efforts and makes data governance assessments more difficult.
Setting up Purview in a production tenant proved challenging due to a lack of clear documentation on permission requirements. While Purview offers role-based access with custom role creation, there's no built-in explanation of each role's function and associated permissions. Microsoft Learn documentation wasn't helpful either. Ideally, Purview should provide in-context information about each role within the portal, eliminating the need for cryptic names and extensive external research.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for under one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview seems to be functioning, but there's a lack of clarity on how it analyzes data. The content explorer shows inconsistencies, with Microsoft acknowledging that the actual document count might differ from what's displayed. This suggests limitations in the current setup. While improvement is desirable, it's still a usable tool.
How are customer service and support?
I submitted a support request in the test tenant, possibly specific to that environment. However, the Purview quality was lacking. Automatic replies didn't address my question, which seemed misplaced within the chosen topic. It felt like I contacted the wrong department. Instead of offering real support, they suggested I write a public blog post seeking help online. This was essentially non-existent support, potentially due to limited resources for test tenant users. It's unclear if this reflects the quality of support for the expensive enterprise licenses.
How was the initial setup?
While deploying Purview itself was easy for me after I had spent significant time getting a Microsoft certification, onboarding junior colleagues who haven't had that preparation is proving more challenging. Despite their initial confusion, the overall structure and features of Purview seem well-organized and at least decent.
While a single person could deploy Purview in this instance because it's a test tenant, it's important to clarify that this ease of deployment applies only to the test environment and wouldn't be representative of the process for a production tenant.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Purview is a subscription-based service, so we need either an E3 or E5 license to use it. The specific features we have access to within Purview depend on which of these licenses we have.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview eight out of ten.
To choose the best Purview subscription for your needs, I recommend using a test tenant to explore Purview's features and value proposition. This will help you identify the most critical functionalities and choose the subscription that best aligns with your business requirements.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Data Architect at a venture capital & private equity firm with 501-1,000 employees
Has a seamless integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, but its limitations include some features being in a preliminary state or missing
Pros and Cons
- "The user interface is highly intuitive and user-friendly."
- "Enhancing the tool's capability to connect to multiple sources would be valuable."
What is our primary use case?
Our goal was to provide insights into the latest data entries, implement governance measures, identify and classify sensitive data, and address specific business use cases. The primary use cases revolved around establishing a comprehensive data lineage, accompanied by pertinent metadata. This was primarily aimed at providing a business-centric dashboard, enabling stakeholders to visualize how data moves from one point to another and ultimately reaches the target.
In my experience, I've utilized it on Windows machines with Blackfish without encountering any issues.
How has it helped my organization?
The dashboard offers insights into the nature of the data, and the transformations occurring between different columns, and allows for traceability to identify any issues that may arise. These use cases have proven highly beneficial not only for business analysis but also for support activities. For instance, it aids support personnel in quickly identifying issues such as missing data or anomalies, streamlining the troubleshooting process for efficient problem resolution.
Purview facilitates data management across diverse cloud and platform environments, encompassing AWS and GCP. However, my experience has been exclusively with Azure. Given that my ecosystem operates within Azure, both the source and target activities are conducted seamlessly within the Azure framework. The integration is smooth since Microsoft Purview is inherently designed for Microsoft components, making it effortless to establish connections and retrieve the required data. I haven't employed it for other sources or alternative cloud systems.
The importance of Purview lies in its careful consideration of critical global regulations. As a data governance solution, it plays a crucial role in business development processes. Given the potentially sensitive nature of incoming data, proper classification is essential to ensure specialized treatment. This facilitates easy access for subsequent activities such as metadata modifications or updates, providing sufficient information for comprehension by business personnel. The tool proves beneficial for data quality officers, enabling them to monitor data and detect any discrepancies, empowering them to take necessary actions. In the realm of the cloud, Purview emerges as a highly valuable data governance solution.
The integration of Microsoft Purview has significantly reduced the need for multiple solutions to interact within our company. This reduction not only streamlines processes but also saves time. For example, when a problem arises, understanding, identifying, and resolving it becomes much easier compared to the traditional approach of tracing through multiple systems for the root cause. With Microsoft Purview, the identification process is simplified, leading to potential savings in support efforts. Business stakeholders also benefit by gaining more visibility into how data flows through the system and understanding the metadata information without relying heavily on support or technical personnel. This autonomy enhances their ability to assess and comprehend the situation independently.
I haven't implemented it to enhance response time for insider threats by applying security measures. However, the tool does provide visibility into the movement of data, allowing the data control officer to monitor and classify alarms promptly. In the event of an alert, appropriate actions can be taken accordingly.
Efforts have significantly diminished, and this reduction is directly proportional to cost savings. As a technical person involved in both solution development and support processes, I've observed a reduction of more than fifty percent. The turnaround time for issue resolution has notably decreased. Previously, it took others a considerable amount of time to identify the root cause, but with Microsoft Purview, pinpointing issues and finding solutions has become much more efficient.
It has had a significant impact on our capacity to maintain compliance. As a data governance solution, it offers features essential for ensuring that compliance requirements are thoroughly met, and data processing aligns with regulatory standards.
What is most valuable?
The user interface is highly intuitive and user-friendly.
I appreciate it because it provides a unified solution. Everything can be managed in one place, from scanning sources to making assets available. The access includes comprehensive metadata information, presented in a non-technical manner for easy comprehension of the asset's nature. The visualization it offers is quite clear. Additionally, it creates a lineage based on data processing, allowing for workflow authorization and control over metadata modifications or other activities.
It caters to the entire micro-ecosystem, providing connectivity and seamless data flow. It allows for scanning, asset discovery, and data coverage. While there are some existing limitations, it's important to note that the tool is continuously evolving. I believe it holds great potential and will become an excellent resource for development in the future.
Purview's data connector platform is designed to facilitate ingestion from non-Microsoft data sources. I've personally applied this feature to one of our sources, an Oracle database. Specifically, we utilized ADA for data permissions and seamlessly integrated it with the Azure Data Factory pipeline. This automated the connection to Oracle, enabling the setup of data extraction and loading processes. Overall, it proved to be a valuable and effective feature.
What needs improvement?
Enhancing the tool's capability to connect to multiple sources would be valuable. Also, when data is transformed in other systems, the tool should capture the relevant metadata and generate lineage for those systems as well. Thirdly, addressing limitations, such as relying on Apache Atlas for mitigation, should be handled within the Microsoft tool itself rather than external dependencies like Apache Atlas.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for approximately six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is satisfactory, and I would give it a rating of eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have utilized it in a cloud environment, and scalability is assured.
How are customer service and support?
I am content with technical support, but for various inquiries, the responses often indicate that the feature is either not available or still in a previous state. I would rate it eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. Even individuals with less technical expertise can do it.
What about the implementation team?
Deployment spanned a week and involved six different individuals.
Maintenance becomes necessary when leveraging external APIs and tools, especially concerning access management. However, once the initial setup using MS Purview is complete, ongoing maintenance is minimal. Automation takes over with continuous scanning, automatic data classification, and sensitivity labeling. Workflows can be established and utilized for an extended period, reducing the need for frequent maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I consider it cost-efficient because of the metrics it provides. With each scan being incremental, avoiding redundant scans of the same object, the tool offers a way to manage costs effectively.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn't extensively evaluate other options because Microsoft Purview successfully met the requirements for the specific tasks at hand. However, during implementation, I became aware of more mature tools available in the market that might offer greater capabilities. It seems that Microsoft Purview is still evolving compared to these more established alternatives.
What other advice do I have?
In my scenario, I encountered difficulty connecting to a file system database, especially when it was located on a different server. Additionally, when working with an in-house solution like Azure Data Factory, while Microsoft Purview can successfully bring metrics to tables as assets, it faces limitations in identifying the leading use of those assets. For instance, a database solution handling ETL activities may not seamlessly provide insights into the transformations, sources, immediate obligations, and final targets associated with a specific asset, making it challenging to track its usage directly within Microsoft Purview.
I would strongly recommend Microsoft Purview when utilizing solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem, such as Data Factory, various applications, and databases.
Overall, I would rate it a seven out of ten because several features are still in a preliminary state. Given that it is in preview, it may not be as stable or fully functional yet. Also, the absence of data quality and data profiling mechanisms contributes to this rating.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Cloud Architect at a marketing services firm with 11-50 employees
Supports ingestion from non-Microsoft data sources, integrates with third-party solutions, and is built with critical regulations from around the world in mind
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the tracking activity and device onboarding."
- "I have some concerns about the separation of roles in Purview from the Microsoft tenant, as well as how they interact with the security portal and endpoint manager."
What is our primary use case?
In both my previous and current organizations, I've worked with Microsoft Purview. While my previous company had a premium license for all services, my current one doesn't. At my previous company, I used Purview to design communication compliance policies, likely leveraging some pre-built policies from Microsoft security. Initially, we lacked a specific goal, but my exploration of the platform led me to pursue a cybersecurity certification to optimize its use. This helped me design DLP policies more effectively and implement signing for communication compliance policies. Recently, I discovered eDiscovery and its value for exporting large datasets for specific employees based on their protection level. Lastly, I found its activity tracking feature particularly useful for monitoring employee movements in our large, partially remote workforce of nearly 100 employees, with less than half in the main office. This tracking proved valuable for detecting potential data leaks during employee departures. I briefly explored Insight Risk Management during a one-month license trial.
How has it helped my organization?
Purview's multi-platform capabilities, supporting iOS, Mac, and Android, have been invaluable to me. As a beginner in device management software, the prospect of using another option with a large web portal felt daunting. Purview's ability to manage devices across different operating systems saved me significant time.
At my previous company, all internal data lived in Azure, but client data resided in Salesforce. This siloed structure made comprehensive data control impractical without a tool like Purview that seamlessly supports ingestion from non-Microsoft data sources.
Purview's natively integrated compliance across Azure Dynamics 365 and Office 365 is even stronger than its ability to integrate with third-party solutions.
It's crucial that Purview was built with critical regulations from around the world in mind, especially for those of us in the European Union where EU regulations apply. This is a key consideration for everyone involved in data governance. While some frameworks offer vast data capabilities, the sheer volume of work required for a medium-sized business to ensure compliance with regulations across all these frameworks would be insurmountable.
I initially found the DLP system overwhelming due to its capabilities exceeding the needs of our small organization, where I implemented simpler policies. However, it proved valuable for ensuring compliance with GDPR, and PCI DSS and provided visibility into sensitive data sharing.
Purview has saved our organization a huge amount of money and time.
Through Purview, we were able to streamline our technology stack by consolidating the number of solutions we relied on. This prompted us to re-evaluate our vendor landscape, ultimately leading us to migrate everything to Microsoft and leverage their comprehensive suite of tools. Surprisingly, most of the functionalities we previously paid for were already available within the Microsoft ecosystem. This simplified our IT infrastructure, transitioning us from a predominantly on-premises setup to a cloud-based one, with Microsoft solutions forming the core of our cloud environment.
Purview has improved my ability to stay on top of compliance.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the tracking activity and device onboarding.
What needs improvement?
I have some concerns about the separation of roles in Purview from the Microsoft tenant, as well as how they interact with the security portal and endpoint manager. Certain permission issues or protracted permission updates could arise due to suboptimal configuration, potentially extending the expected timeframe.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Purview is stable in protection but there are some bugs in the GUI.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Designed for enterprise-level organizations, Microsoft Purview scales effortlessly.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was straightforward. I was able to do the entire deployment with the help of one other person.
What about the implementation team?
We used a Microsoft partner when we started working with the tenant before starting to use Purview.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While Purview's standard pricing might not be accessible to most small businesses, we were fortunate to benefit from the educational pricing which made it a financially viable option for our needs.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Purview a nine out of ten.
Maintaining Purview is essential, as some internal problems, like endpoints disconnecting within the organization, can develop over time.
To fully leverage Microsoft Purview's capabilities, it is recommended that one first familiarize themselves with the organization's existing infrastructure.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
DB Architect at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
Simplifies the audit process, offering a single scan of data sets and providing insights for better data governance but lack of mature disaster recovery features
What is our primary use case?
We use Purview for data cataloging and to build the DME (Data Management Environment) for enterprise data. We also use it to understand the insights of how data is flowing across systems, from ERP systems to our data warehouse and the installation layer. This helps us to look at data classifications and where exactly sensor data is being used. It gives us a bird-eye view.
There are two primary use cases. One is to build the data catalog for our enterprise data, and the other one is to build the lineage. These serve to provide a clearer understanding of the data aspect.
There are two things: I'm more specific about data for Purview. There are two types of tools in Purview, but I have exclusively used data Purview. Purview is basically the one for data governance, and there is for enterprise-level security. I am more involved in the data governance aspect.
How has it helped my organization?
Purview has helped to reduce the number of solutions we need to interact with each other. That's the best thing with Purview: we can have a lot of options to get a view to identifying data that not only helps directly have access, but we can still have access to the data catalog and have a view of all the data access across the system.
We can also look at certified assets. I'll also look at ratings and tags so that we can find the right valuable data or trusted data that we can go for without anyone's help here. Based on the feedback, even from a few of the data supports or the experts, that would definitely help because it stops building the dependency with a specific person, and we can contribute once in the data catalog, and we could use those extensively across the org.
There are multiple aspects that it helps. It's not specific to security, it's not specific to what we call data classification. Another thing is we can have visibility across not specific to one area. We can explore all on-prem systems, cloud, multi-cloud platforms, and data in our data lake, SQL database, and Power BI. We have visibility of everything. We don't need access to the actual sources, but we can have just a view of our enterprise data, which is definitely the best thing I can say in terms of visibility. For example, if any chief data officers want to look at the enterprise data or the data estate completely, it would definitely help a lot in looking at what data is in-house and sensitivity where exactly the sensitivity data is being placed. That's the best thing I can say in terms of giving visibility to data officers and data storage.
There are a few audits we had. We used to track all the sensitive information, and in most cases, I can select Excel or any spreadsheets we have. Purview would help us with a single scan of our data sets, giving me the availability of where exactly the sensitive information is by just adding data classifications at one time.
Purview has defaulted a lot of our classes already enrolled, but on top of it, we can tweak it based on our custom needs. Then, scan data and get insights, which will definitely be a better way of doing data governance because if we want to perform any audit, it takes a lot of time. But with Purview, once we define our requirement and then scan it, we'll have the data before any audits that we want to perform. It's definitely helpful, especially in terms of data audits.
Purview will give us the classification of where data sits and then show us how it is being curated, how it is being stored across systems, who the end users are, and how it is being used. It definitely helps a lot in terms of complaints and staying on top of compliance. The important thing to say is that we can predefine and use it and have it ready to use. That's important. It scans the data frequently, so we get the insights updated frequently.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are lineage, data cataloging, glossaries, and the new access delegation feature. This feature will make it quicker to delegate access to all the data with a single request button.
On Azure, it's definitely important that Purview delivers data protection across multi-platform environments. It gives us complete visibility of where our security data resides and what types of data we have.
This is useful because we store data across multiple platforms, including databases, storage, spreadsheets, Excel, CSS, and caching. Purview helps us to see where exactly our data is stored across the system, especially in Azure. This is a great advantage because it helps us to feel more secure when moving our data to the cloud.
Moreover, Purview's data connector platform is getting valid day-to-day. It has connectivity to major cloud platforms, like GCP and AWS, and also it has a couple of areas. So it supports multi-platform and a couple of on-premise systems. It also connects a few of the heterogeneous databases.
It gives us insights. There are two aspects of it—one is about data governance and one is about security. Since I'm part of data governance, it does not deal much with threats because that's a different tool that will give us more insights about the threats. But in terms of data threats, I'll have visibility on who and how to stop it.
What needs improvement?
As we are looking at Purview as an enterprise-level tool, there are two areas where I still see that there is something that can be improved.
One is about disaster recovery. Purview has not matured in the way of building the tool without having disaster recovery. We don't have disaster recovery or high availability. If anything goes wrong, like, there are any changes happening, and I want to roll back, there is no way that I can roll back in the existing system.
For example, I have a data source in which one of the users has dropped or deleted the data unknowingly or accidentally. In that case, there is no way to roll back those changes. That's one place where Purview can improve it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have never experienced a crashing issue so far but lagging happens. It depends on our network traffic from where we are using it.
Our overall experience is good. I have never seen any issues with Purview.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As it's consumption-based, it's easily scalable because Microsoft takes care of it, and I don't need to look at any hyperscaler for this.
We are good with the scalability but, the cost factor is involved here. Once you scale up, the cost is higher, so we have to be more cautious about it.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support are good. The support team was quite helpful in many of cases. For example, when I want to contact any person, like a Microsoft client partner, they help me with one of the requirements, and we had some workshops and a few guidelines given to us. That was very helpful for us.
Since Purview is a new product, it has multiple features being adopted.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
It was more of manual work that we used to do, like doing the audit and building the data catalogs.
Since we are a Microsoft shop, that's one reason why we are going with Purview. We have other tools like Collibra, but that will be costly and may not. It requires a lot of effort compared to Purview to implement. That's the reason we chose Purview.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, with minimal dependency on the administrators.
What about the implementation team?
We didn't get help from the integrator, reseller, or consultant.
What was our ROI?
Purview helped to save time and money. If we are looking for an enterprise-level solution, Purview would be the best tool.
We have invested around $22k per month. But we have to work more on showing a return on investment because I see only a few users using this because data lineage is one area we are focusing more on, but still, there are a lot of issues in getting it. Down the line, I can say this is going to give us a return on investment but we are not there. Right now, we are trusting that we will get that soon.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Since it's more consumption-based, the pricing looks good, but we should have a few options to limit Purview.
In terms of usage or size and limit the price. Right now, we don't have control over it because it depends on the volume of data IT stores and the number of users being used concurrently. So those are a few areas we don't have control over because it's completely on the consumption base now.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Engineer at a university with 51-200 employees
We like the insights the solution provides and the way it can track and manage things
Pros and Cons
- "I don't know if I've gotten much value out of Purview personally, but our security team loves it. Our biggest concern is leakage or theft of our data because we have a lot of PII and stuff that has not been released. We like the insights Purview provides and the way the solution can track and manage things. I'd say that was probably their favorite piece of it so far. From everything the security team has told me, the policy management and DLP features are working spectacularly."
- "We have had some issues automating our document management with Power Apps. I haven't been super-disappointed with anything except for Power Apps, which kinda drives me nuts. I think it's because I am a coder who can do things properly, and I keep trying to do things there, but it's not working out the way. The security team is pretty quick. I'm kind of a thorn in their side. I always try to get around stuff. They haven't come to me for anything saying, "Hey, I can't find this information." They're pretty good. Maybe, there's a lack of documentation, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for our team."
What is our primary use case?
Data loss prevention is a significant use case for us. I'm not on the security team, so I don't know exactly what kicked it off, but I believe we wanted Purview for the DLP capabilities first, and that led to us taking advantage of the other aspects of the solution. We have Azure, Purview, Defender, and all of the other Microsoft products. We're trying to leverage and use all of them.
We have Intune for deployments and things like that. We're rolling out the zero-trust model right now. We use Jamf to manage our Macs because I'm not knowledgeable enough to Intune correctly, and it doesn't have the functionality that Jamf does. We can move over to Intune or whatever. So I think they're definitely trying to push me that way.
What is most valuable?
I don't know if I've gotten much value out of Purview personally, but our security team loves it. Our biggest concern is leakage or theft of our data because we have a lot of PII and stuff that has not been released. We like the insights Purview provides and the way the solution can track and manage things. I'd say that was probably their favorite piece of it so far. From everything the security team has told me, the policy management and DLP features are working spectacularly.
What needs improvement?
We have had some issues automating our document management with Power Apps. I haven't been super-disappointed with anything except for Power Apps, which kinda drives me nuts. I think it's because I am a coder who can do things properly, and I keep trying to do things there, but it's not working out the way. The security team is pretty quick. I'm kind of a thorn in their side. I always try to get around stuff. They haven't come to me for anything saying, "Hey, I can't find this information." They're pretty good. Maybe, there's a lack of documentation, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for our team.
Another thing involves SharePoint. We have everything in SharePoint up on the cloud, and we want to ensure it's secure, so we have blocked all external access. You need to have one of our devices and our codes. But the C suite wasn't pleased because it was accessible externally for a while. And we have a penetration company that does testing. They were able to harass one of our users enough that they finally clicked the button that says "Approve this Login," so it just takes one time.
They find red flags everywhere in organizations. The gut reaction was to cut off external access for now and figure out what we can do down the road after that, but this is a stopgap measure. However, the C suite told us that it wasn't good enough, but there was no way somebody outside could access our systems. You need to be on a trusted IP or our VPN. We have conditional access configured.
We hired an actual outside consultant company to come in And I've been working with them for close to a year now. We're trying to leverage Purview and Power Apps to automate our document management. We have a ticket open with Microsoft because that's one more thing we're struggling with. It's supposed to go through and look for any PII data, like Social Security numbers, etc. We also have really low retention policies. For example, our emails are retained for only six months maximum. Team conversations are saved for two days. They're they're brutal. Legal discovery can be expensive, so they want to make sure we don't have anything to discover.
I'm wondering if Purview can do some of the things that we're struggling with, and we're tripping over ourselves because the other thing we did was configure it so you have to be in a special group to even access those files. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Purview Information Protection has a labeling component. Still, I don't know how much it organizes labeled documents, and I think it also includes labeling after detecting user behavior that the system tracks. They talked about something similar in one of the keynotes I recently listened to. I'm like, "Why are we not doing that?" I'm looking at how we're just beating our heads against the wall. Even if we get this in place, it would still be very challenging.
We like this In terms of usability and security. It will be difficult for our teams to do their jobs with all this other garbage in place. At this point, we've got it almost always set up, but it isn't working the way we need it to on the Power Apps side of things.
And we've got a ticket open with the Power Apps team to figure out why it isn't working because it's supposed to be on a scheduled thing, but we've let it sit for weeks at a time, and nothing ever happens. It doesn't run. And there's no way to monitor. We don't know if it's doing anything, or we can look at our files to make sure that could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We started using Purview in the last six months.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are a new company. We broke off from a much larger organization three years ago, but we had about 3,000 people in the last organization, and we're down to 300. Before Purview, I don't think we had anything for DLP because there was so much to do. It was all hands on deck for about a year and a half where we were just trying to get that stuff done.
We have dev and production environments in AWS, and we're using native AWS tools to monitor the applications over there. I don't know how effective they are compared to Purview. We outsourced all of that to another company. The guy who owns it used to work with us.
How was the initial setup?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not involved in purchasing. My company is willing to throw as much money as needed to be as secure as possible. Security is our priority, so we'd probably pay for it even if it was pretty expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Purview eight out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Solutions Architect, Data & AI at a consultancy with self employed
Saves time and money and offers good security
Pros and Cons
- "The product has helped us save both time and money."
- "he one thing it doesn't do is data quality."
What is our primary use case?
As a consultant, I work with clients to sell the idea of data governance. In doing so, we do POCs, proof of concepts, and MVPs, which are minimal, viable products.
For Microsoft Purview, most of the time, it's also associated with other products -whether it's ADS, Synapse, Key Vault, Databricks, storage accounts, Kubernetes, et cetera.
I also worked on a project to integrate it with processing. I created a data governance accelerator combined into two products, including Synapse, and we sell that to customers.
What is most valuable?
The data catalog, the data lineage, the data glossary, and the classification are the key features I appreciate, along with the tight security, and role-based security.
There are two flavors of Purview. There's the compliance, which it does the security and all that. And then there's the Microsoft side, which is the data side. I primarily work on the data side.
I like that Purview can connect to IOS, Mac, Android, and other SaaS apps.
Its data connector platform for supporting ingestion from non-Microsoft data sources works really well. We can use it either through a self-hosted integration runtime or on a VM. Or it can capture data from just about anywhere. There are about 100+ connectors. It's great.
Its natively integrated compliance across Azure Dynamics is a game changer. Back in the day, we never had anything like that. It provides self-service. It provides easy look-up and glossary terms. It also requires a new role called the data steward which we never had before.
It was built to take into account critical regulations from around the world. Now it's no longer something that's nice to have - it's necessary.
Purview helped to reduce the number of solutions we need to interact with each other. If you were to do this custom, it'd be very difficult. It's so easy to use and stand up and configure. There are some configuration requirements that are not self-explanatory. It takes some research; however, we already figured out all those things.
Purview affected the visibility we have into our estate. Now we have a complete ecosystem of where the data is, and it's a lineage. It's a game-changer.
I've used AI and automation in Purview. That's what the scans are. It uses AI to determine the classification. It's built-in. It's under the hood. People don't see it.
Our speed and accuracy of risk detection are good. From a compliance perspective, it helps identify sensitive information by classification.
The product has helped us save both time and money. From a time perspective, there's an initial upfront cost to stand it up and configure it. However, once it's running, there's very little to do. So there's a one-time hit up front for the implementation in configuration, yet downstream, there's significant time reduction.
Money-wise, it's the same thing. You're only charged for when you run the scan since the storage is minimal. So there are ways to reduce cost, and that is by running it less frequently. Also, there's a whole bunch of out-of-the-box classifications that aren't required. There are ways to increase your cost reduction. Of course, that is not self-explanatory. You have to work with it for a while to know that.
What needs improvement?
The one thing it doesn't do is data quality. That's its only pitfall. The problem is people think it does. So either they're not marketing it right, or, eventually, it's on the road map, and they haven't got to that part yet.
In order to get data in and out, you have to use custom code using Python. That's an inconvenience, and almost every customer wants that feature. For example, let's say I run some scans on some data, and then that data goes away. This issue is Purview still shows it. There's no easy way to clean up your orphan data. That's a problem.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution since 2015.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. Microsoft is solid on the cloud.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is quite nice.
They just changed their model so that you're only allowed one Purview per tenant. So you either get the free one, which is limited, or you purchase the enterprise one, which costs money. However, you only get one per tenant. That's a change they made within the last two months. You can't have three Purviews in the same tenant anymore. That change required a redesign of how people implement it. That said, they are offering it for free.
How are customer service and support?
I've worked for Microsoft to help a client who was having difficulty. I documented it. We had a backlog where other people were experiencing the same problems. You can reach out via phone or email.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved with the initial setup. I also can configure it. There is quite a bit of configuration required as you need it to speak with other resources.
The initial installation is pretty easy. It is like any install on Azure. You just enter a few parameters, and it builds it. Then, if you want to start adding resources, there's a bit of configuration. It only takes about ten minutes. However, you have to know which settings you have to add.
Only one person is needed to deploy the solution.
Once it is up, there is very little maintenance going forward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is pay-as-you-go. It provides easy ramp-up and very little maintenance down the road. If you want to shut it down, you just delete it. It's easy to use, easy to configure, and the costs aren't that great.
I could see more and more companies using this going forward if they're already in Azure, and it's so easy to set up. It's a requirement now as well since data is the lifeblood of any organization. If you have bad data or you don't know where it is, or suffer from data silos, this will solve all that.
What other advice do I have?
We're a Microsoft Gold Partner.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Using the Microsoft unified cloud-based data governance is going to allow users to gather data across the entire ecosystem, classify it, place a glossary on top, and look at the lineage in addition to a whole bunch more. They have self-service policies and DevOps policies. Microsoft is heavily funding this tool, and it's now a requirement, not nice to have. Just about every Azure customer is going to incorporate Purview into their ecosystem, and it's going to help govern their data, which is an asset that will help companies increase sales, reduce costs, and streamline processes.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Sr Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Facilitates smooth migrations by giving clients robust insights into their data
Pros and Cons
- "My favorite Purview feature is auto-scanning. Once we set up Purview, we can automatically scan multiple data sources when new data comes into specific databases, like SQL and Oracle. We don't need to rediscover the new data or do anything manually because it automatically happens."
- "Two features are unsupported—custom insights and the DLP component—that would be beneficial to me as a consultant and for the customer in terms of security and monitoring. Regarding security, DLP would provide a more granular level of data masking. Custom insights would offer more detailed monitoring and alerts that can notify customers of failures or anything requiring urgent action."
What is our primary use case?
I'm a cloud consultant and prefer Azure Purview as a governance tool. A few of my clients are in the banking sector, including global and Indian banks. They need a centralized solution for compliance and governance.
I haven't used Purview much for SaaS or device management, but I have explored the SaaS services and PaaS in terms of other tools that can be integrated with Azure Purview. Our clients often have an ETL solution that's in Azure directly. Most of our clients use Synapse Analytics or Databricks. One of our energy clients in Australia has the same use case for data platform implementation. They have some unstructured data on-premises, and it goes back to the Azure storage account as raw data. They do some transformation with the help of an ETL tool. For agentless forecasting, they do model training with the help of Databricks or Azure machine learning. They'll use Power BI for visualization, but Purview is the centralized governance tool.
How has it helped my organization?
Purview improves compliance and governance with data source and auto-scanning features. All those data assets would be in a centralized repo that pulls from different sources and databases that hold the bank data or the customer's data. The solution enhances compliance in terms of security factors and issues like duplication. It scans for new data coming in and older data that already exists. Purview collects the metadata to get a clearer visualization of all the compliance aspects.
Another benefit is accelerated migration. Purview facilitates smooth migrations by giving clients insights into their data, which data is useful, and what kind of data is non-compliant, so you can classify data based on compliance, priority, and utility. It helps clients decide which data is essential and should be migrated. Identifying non-compliant data can help clients improve security and privacy.
Data analysis and classification isn't a two-day or two-week job. It's a long-term process. It might take two or three months to gather feedback on what kind of data is the most beneficial, like structural data, static data, etc. The data lineage doesn't come in one or two days. It takes some time to get a complete picture of your source and destination and the data cycle from start to finish. You can say that the data was in this phase six months ago, and now it is in this phase. Six months is enough to get a clear picture of the data flow and the kinds of data that are most beneficial. Purview is helpful for long-term data management and classification.
Purview improves visibility. If I go back to a year ago, when I was learning Purview, my perspective was different. There were fewer features, and Purview has grown at a rapid pace. I was originally a network engineer, but I am now a cloud consultant, so it was challenging to work with the Azure version initially. I started seeing the benefits of its data classification features once I started consulting, seeing everything that comes into a client's bucket, and receiving feedback. Now, I can see the solution's strengths in governance and compliance.
The auto-scanning functionality and automation features in Azure have a positive impact when connecting data sources. When there are multiple data sources, we can make connections and start discovery. Manual discovery will take so long, and we don't know when the new data is coming in, so automation is useful. When new data comes into the databases, Purview triggers that auto-discovery part so the data stays updated. It's more efficient and more accurate.
For example, we have let's say we have data coming in this month. We have a discovery scan, and some new data comes into the databases after a day or two. If we don't run the auto-scanning feature, the data will get outdated. It would affect if we need to present something or calculate something. We can discover data quickly and get accurate data. It isn't completely in real-time. It still takes time to refresh things, but we haven't
Automated discovery reduces the amount of time needed to take action on insider threats. If discovery is already done, it's easier to classify the data and import it into a data visualization tool like Power BI. We need to complete the discovery before moving on to the data lineage component or the Data Factory pipeline. It reduces the time by about 12 to 15 percent.
What is most valuable?
My favorite Purview feature is auto-scanning. Once we set up Purview, we can automatically scan multiple data sources when new data comes into specific databases, like SQL and Oracle. We don't need to rediscover the new data or do anything manually because it automatically happens.
Purview also offers some additional integration capabilities if you use the Azure edition. We can seamlessly integrate tools like Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics to provide analytics and data transformation services in a customer's ETL pipeline. Organizations want to structure that data, so they use a basic ETL tool, which is commonly Azure Data Factory. Purview provides us with all the connectors needed to integrate these data tools. Another feature I like is data lineage. Purview tracks the data from its source to the destination.
I haven't seen many challenges with integrating or supporting native Microsoft solutions like Office 365. We haven't come across anything in Microsoft 365 that's unsupported out of compliance with HIPAA regulations in the health sector or banking and finance regulations. It conforms to PCI DSS compliance methodology or GDPR.
We have multiple clients in the energy and banking sectors. Purview is vital in data platform implementation projects involving ETL transformations and model training. It's our default tool for governance when we're pitching our organization during presales. However, our smaller customers often don't need that much governance, or they're good with Azure Monitor. They may also prefer some other governance tool or might have an on-premise tool that they are already using. They don't want to change it despite the integration and features. Our big customers may have existing governance tools, but they want to use Purview because it offers additional features. It provides them security, compliance, and the flexibility to integrate with third-party and Azure native tools.
What needs improvement?
Two features are unsupported—custom insights and the DLP component—that would be beneficial to me as a consultant and for the customer in terms of security and monitoring. Regarding security, DLP would provide a more granular level of data masking. Custom insights would offer more detailed monitoring and alerts that can notify customers of failures or anything requiring urgent action.
DLP is not a part of Purview. Our larger customers require some advanced features, such as dynamic data masking, encryption, and decryption. For example, some of our projects in Dubai involve machine learning use cases and encrypted critical data on-premise. It varies. Data encryption and masking are not priorities for some customers.
Microsoft has some built-in data masking tools. Some customers believe that masked data is safe, and they don't want to move it. We tell the clients that Purview doesn't move the actual data, only the metadata. The customer is convinced that DLP is not part of Purview, but that is not a concern because it's all about metadata. The original data is not transferred from on-premise to Azure. Purview is not storing the actual data. It takes the data to perform discovery and provide better data classifications. If DLP is added, then Purview will be stronger.
When I talk to clients about these DLP features, they say it still lags behind in data integration and support. It does not affect the sales side or prevent us as consultants from convincing them to switch because of these two unsupported features. However, Purview does need some improvements in data security and third-party integrations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with Purview for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Purview six out of 10 for stability. It is stable, but they're constantly adding new features, so it needs more stability in the future.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Purview is a scalable solution because Microsoft manages everything on the back end. We don't need to handle any databases or servers. We can talk about the general scalability of Azure services, not Purview specifically. The SLA gives an uptime of 99.99 percent. I have not had any scalability issues with Azure services, and this goes for Purview as well.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Microsoft support seven out of 10. They respond quickly and follow up fast after the issue has been closed to see if the problem is resolved.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used GCP, but the AWS centralized governance tool lags in terms of authentication and authorization. AWS also has features like data lineage it can provide. However, Purview stands out for security protections and role-based access control. Purview offers better granularity compared to the AWS or GCP governance tools. The access control list enables granular levels of access to its users.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Purview isn't too complex. The initial installation takes about eight hours. Setting up a data governance solution involves configuring the networking components. The networking part can be done in parallel with deploying other services. However, you must completely implement the data platform before connecting the data sources and performing data discovery. Later, you can begin the data analysis and classification on Purview.
The data deployment and networking configuration is similar to deploying other Azure services. I imagine on-prem Purview requires more time to set up. If we are giving a client an estimate of the time it would take to complete the project, the deployment and networking part would not additional time. However, the data discovery, classification, lineage, and data source connectivity, require two more weeks. The total deployment takes five to eight weeks plus an additional two weeks for the discovery phase.
The networking engineer who deployed Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, etc. can easily deploy Purview because it's the same. However, we require a dedicated Purview engineer for the discovery phase. We haven't had to do much maintenance so far.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Purview is priced in the middle. It isn't the cheapest, but it isn't the most expensive. It's affordable compared to other public cloud services. Purview costs about 20 percent less than AWS, but it is still expensive compared to other Azure services and governance tools.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Purview seven out of 10. I recommend Purview over other governance features because it has multiple features that make it stand out from the rest. Once it is updated with features like DLP and custom insights, Purview will be a market leader. These additional features will help the solution earn more enterprise-scale customers.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Corporate Data Specialist at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Great ROI, is stable, and can identify content across many prescribed regulatory frameworks
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Purview's most valuable feature is its ability to identify content across a number of prescribed regulatory frameworks, including Microsoft, GDPR, PII, and UCC Financial."
- "Purview's data loss prevention for macOS endpoints has some limitations, and the end-user experience of recovering from a failure is lacking."
What is our primary use case?
We are a partner and work with different organizations. We go through a number of activity phases, such as initial discovery, understanding their data to see what is and is not sensitive, and then using Microsoft Purview.
We use Microsoft Purview to provide sensitive information in building out a roadmap in terms of classification, protection, and lifecycle management. We then determine what kind of use case is most common for other work we would look for and fill in the gaps with the customer. Microsoft Purview's vast features and capabilities really depend on what we learn in those workshops and where that organization is looking to go over a period of time. So if one of the key areas is the mitigation or prevention of data breaches, we can help with that.
We can also help protect content, especially when it is sensitive and involves individuals. We can also help businesses change their processes to help ensure users know what their preferences are and how to use the user tools.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Purview's ability to deliver data protection across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments, including AWS and GCP, is very important. It helps organizations realize the investments they have already made and how they can further expand those investments to another remote type of Microsoft workflow. Microsoft Connect has been used to centralize these workflows, and the ability to import existing records management processes and policies into the file plan in Microsoft Purview allows organizations to bring compliance into a central location. This helps to manage costs and improve efficiency, as users can go to one area to leverage basic facilities without having to use separate tools.
It is important for our clients that Microsoft Purview can connect to iOS and Android devices. With many people now working from home and using their own devices, there is a need to manage these devices. Microsoft Purview's conditional access and endpoint management capabilities help organizations to protect their data, regardless of the device being used.
Purview's natively integrated compliance across Azure Dynamics 365 and Office 365 is important. However, it is also important to ensure data privacy with its data as a whole from a compliance perspective. This means ensuring that we can meet the requirements of 2701 controls and that people know the processes, technology, and relevant skills. CRM controls information about potential customers and opportunities, so it is important to ensure that we are compliant when handling this data. We also need to make sure that updates to Purview are made as needed and that our team is able to stay on Office 365. Having a strong compliance program is essential for any organization that handles sensitive data. By taking the necessary steps to ensure compliance, we can protect our data and our customers.
It is critical that Purview is built around global regulations. This is because we have different types of customers, some of whom operate slowly. There is a rack with some regulations, and we have the US. We also have a rack with different regulations that are up-to-date, but they are only safe in some areas. This means that we need to be able to control, face, or bank on system regulations. This is very important to me and the customer because they can be very tricky.
Purview's DLP can be used to remediate policy violations. A number of kinds of DLP rules can be leveraged, such as sensitivity labels, data classification, and sensitive information protection plans. This means that it is not enough to simply provide people with the technology, they also need to be trained on how to use it effectively. Through the use of an ERP system, a number of policies can be set up. This insight can then be used to make meaningful decisions about how to rate the data on the system. This will help to understand how the data is costing the organization. If the organization does not have the necessary internal controls in place, new protection and encryption measures may need to be implemented. This is primarily becoming step one in the process of working policies, understanding how the data is being used, making decisions about how to protect it, and then building a protection layer on top of that.
Data loss prevention education for users is important because it can help them to understand how to best protect sensitive data. This can be done by providing users with training on how to use DLP tools and policies, as well as by educating them about the risks of data loss. DLP tools can help to prevent data loss by monitoring user activity and blocking unauthorized access to sensitive data. DLP policies can help to define what constitutes sensitive data and how it should be protected. By educating users about DLP and the risks of data loss, organizations can help to create a culture of data security. This can help to prevent data breaches and protect the organization's data assets.
Purview helped reduce the number of solutions we need to interact with each other. I used the solution that crosses between Endpoint Data Loss Prevention, Microsoft Defender for Data, and Conditional Access to block specific types of information at different workloads. This made it easier to manage sensitive information. For example, if I have sensitive information today, I can easily block people from uploading it to Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive.
The reduction in the number of solutions we need to interact with each other has had a significant impact on our pricing. In the past, we had to use a variety of different solutions to manage our portals, which was time-consuming and expensive. Now that everything is coming into Microsoft Purview, we are able to simplify our technical and environmental environment. This allowed us to reduce our costs and improve our efficiency. In addition, Microsoft Purview provides us with a central location to manage our data governance. This made it easier for us to comply with regulations and protect our data. Overall, Microsoft Purview has been a major asset to our organization.
Microsoft Purview expanded our visibility into our state by allowing us to see what is labeled, relabeled, and what is not classified. There are a number of different areas where Purview improved capability and overall cost. These are all different aspects of Purview, which is helpful for organizations. Purview has a point-in-time view, and it also has the ability to explore more granular data from the logs.
Purview helps to reduce the time it takes to take action on insider threats by around 50 percent. It requires planning and configuration, as well as two weeks of setup. The technical configuration is used to identify users and the types of activities they are performing. For example, users who sign into hundreds of documents within a few minutes of each other or delete large numbers of documents can be quickly identified and flagged. This allows security teams to send high-priority emails to the appropriate people in a timely manner.
Purview helps save our clients between 30 to 40 percent of time and money.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Purview's most valuable feature is its ability to identify content across a number of prescribed regulatory frameworks, including Microsoft, GDPR, PII, and UCC Financial. It can also help organizations identify content that is important to them but not specifically regulated. This is done by creating trainable classifiers and sensitive information types. The protection controls components are based on the perspective of the device. Microsoft Purview has been growing in popularity over the past few years, and it offers a number of tools that can help organizations manage their data.
What needs improvement?
Purview's data loss prevention for macOS endpoints has some limitations, and the end-user experience of recovering from a failure is lacking.
I would like to be able to search for labels using Purview to see what items are affected and the time periods in which they will be active. This would allow us to export the results for specific business areas, which would make our lives a lot easier. We could also use this information to identify sensitive information types and reduce false positives.
The utility system format, the policy tips and user descriptions of sensitivity labels, and the overall policy tips that are shown in the loss prevention policy have room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Purview for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Purview has been good. It takes a bit of time for someone to configure it, but once it is configured, it is responsive. However, there are sometimes delays due to the speed of users' devices and their home network connections. This can be especially true for mobile devices and when users are using multiple apps at the same time. Microsoft also sometimes experiences delays in processing requests, which can lead to further delays in Purview. Overall, Purview is a stable platform with good uptime and resilience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scaling Microsoft Purview, there are two main challenges: network load and data ingestion. Network load can be a problem if there are too many requests coming into the system. This can be addressed by adding more servers to handle the load. Data ingestion can also be a challenge if the company is generating a lot of data. This can be addressed by using virtual machines to store and process the data. As the amount of data grows, the number of VMs can be increased to keep up.
Our clients vary in size from 100 all the way up to 6,000.
How was the initial setup?
Each setup is different. We have thousands of workshops, configurations, and design agreements followed by a baseline to mitigate of about 30 percent which we build on top of. The deployments can take anywhere between a few hours to a few months. We need to understand each organization to ensure that they understand the type of people process that is in place. Then, depending on the technology, we need to make sure that they have access to 365. This is implemented as a baseline, and our target operating model is also needed to ensure that they have the necessary functions. This will allow me to deal with the environment. We need a team of people to manage the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
We implement the solution for our clients. Microsoft Purview is managed in a single location.
Microsoft Purview does not require any maintenance.
What was our ROI?
Our client's have seen a 100 percent return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing depends on the client's requirements and the number of applications.
What other advice do I have?
I give Microsoft Purview an eight out of ten.
It is difficult to assess how much AI and automation affect our speed and accuracy of risk detection. This is because the effectiveness of AI and automation depends on how we train the system. There are a lot of sensitive information types that are prescribed by Microsoft. There are also a number of types that fit within another structure of sharing information. So potentially, we have a number of false positives, which means that we are relying solely on the information provided by the system. This is not something that I would push on an organization. Once we start updating the system, we need to make sure that we understand and compare the number of activities to identify and fine-tune the system. We need to do this a number of times before we can be really sure that the system knows our data. We also need to consider the AI side of things, which obviously allows for some risk. The identification of risk seems to be a matter of realizing confidence in the system's predictions.
It is difficult to assess how Microsoft Purview's AI and automation affect the quality of insights that we have. We have run this process effectively a number of times across different organizations, but this has raised some doubts. This is a bit of a shame, especially with the out-of-the-box solution from Microsoft. We are then asked to hold a number of workshops to review the results. This is because the system can operate with different accuracy levels and false positives. It is important to consider how we portray these insights and what the next steps will be. As a result, there are mixed reviews.
Currently, Purview does not enable us to view our compliance in real-time without some additional work to enable us to show compliance. This is because the visual displays rely on the time it takes to update the Microsoft SQL database, which can be delayed. We have seen cases where the displays do not reflect the actual data, and we have had to manually update the database to correct the issue. However, we can clearly see what data is due for disposition, deletion, and retention based on our policies. While it is not always easy to see this information, we have made improvements to make it easier. Overall, it is not a straightforward process, but we are working to improve it.
I recommend Microsoft Purview, but organizations should always conduct a proof of concept to ensure that their requirements can all be met before implementing the solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Purview Data Governance Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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Updated: October 2026
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Buyer's Guide
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