Enabling Data-Driven Decision Making with Microsoft Fabric in Higher Education

Overview

A large Canadian public-sector higher education institution was seeking to modernize its analytics landscape and evaluate Microsoft Fabric as a unified data and analytics platform. The organization operated across multiple enterprise systems and data silos, making it difficult for leadership and operational teams to access timely, trusted insights.

atQor was engaged to design and deliver a Microsoft Fabric analytics proof-of-concept (POC) that would demonstrate how data from disparate sources could be unified, governed, and visualized using Microsoft’s modern data platform.

Industry Higher Education
Region Canada
Engagement Type Enterprise Application Modernization & Integration

The Challenge

The institution faced several common challenges typical of large, regulated education environments:

Data spread across multiple enterprise applications and operational systems
Limited end-to-end visibility across finance, operations, and performance metrics
Inconsistent reporting definitions across departments
Increasing demand from leadership for real-time, executive-ready insights
Need to align analytics strategy with Microsoft’s evolving data platform roadmap

Before committing to a large-scale rollout, the organization required a low-risk, high-confidence validation of Microsoft Fabric’s capabilities within its environment.

The atQor Approach

atQor designed a structured, outcome-driven POC aligned to Microsoft best practices and Canadian public-sector governance expectations.

Key elements of the engagement included:

Fabric Architecture Design
Defined a scalable Microsoft Fabric architecture integrating data ingestion, semantic modeling, governance, and reporting.
Data Integration & Modeling
Ingested selected datasets from enterprise systems into Fabric using secure, cloud-native pipelines. Modeled data to support consistent metrics and cross-functional reporting.
Analytics & Visualization
Developed Power BI dashboards connected to Fabric semantic models, demonstrating executive-level and operational views.
Governance & Readiness
Incorporated data governance considerations aligned with Microsoft Purview concepts, including metadata, lineage, and access controls.
Enablement & Knowledge Transfer
Worked closely with the institution’s enterprise applications and analytics teams to ensure internal readiness for future scale-out.

The engagement was intentionally structured as a proof-of-value, enabling the institution to validate Fabric’s fit without operational disruption.

Outcomes & Impact

The Microsoft Fabric POC delivered measurable outcomes within a short timeframe:

Demonstrated a single, unified analytics platform spanning ingestion, modeling, governance, and visualization
Improved confidence in data accuracy and metric consistency
Enabled leadership to explore near real-time insights through interactive dashboards
Established a repeatable blueprint for future Fabric adoption
Positioned the institution to engage Microsoft and preferred partners for broader rollout decisions

The POC served as a foundation for subsequent analytics initiatives and informed long-term platform strategy discussions.

Why atQor

The institution selected atQor for its ability to:

Align analytics initiatives with Microsoft’s strategic data platform direction
Operate effectively within regulated Canadian public-sector environments
Deliver focused, execution-oriented engagements rather than generic assessments
Complement internal teams with deep Microsoft Fabric and Power BI expertise

atQor continues to support higher-education organizations across Canada with analytics modernization, platform enablement, and Microsoft-aligned execution.