In today’s data-driven world, organisations are constantly searching for smarter ways to manage, secure and extract value from their information. For businesses already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft Purview represents a real step-change in how data governance can be delivered. As specialists in data solutions, the Novon team has implemented Purview across a wide range of Australian organisations — and we’ve seen first-hand how transformative it can be when applied well.

This article explores what Purview offers, the hurdles to watch out for, and how your organisation can extract maximum value from the platform.

What is Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview is an integrated data governance and risk management platform built to help organisations manage and secure their data estates — whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments. It brings data discovery, classification, cataloguing and auditing into a single unified experience.

If your organisation already runs on Azure, Microsoft 365 or Power BI, Purview slots in naturally and lets you build on the investments you’ve already made.

The Benefits of Microsoft Purview

1. Centralised Data Governance

Purview gives you a single pane of glass for governance across the business. It automatically classifies and organises data, builds a comprehensive data map, and lets users discover the location, sensitivity and use of information across the organisation. That makes day-to-day data management simpler — and dramatically streamlines compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

2. Seamless Microsoft Integration

For Microsoft-aligned organisations, Purview drops cleanly into your existing environment. It surfaces visibility across structured data in SQL databases and unstructured content in OneDrive — all from one platform — without disrupting your current systems.

3. Out-of-the-Box Data Discovery & Classification

Purview ships with more than 200 built-in classification rules covering financial, personal and other sensitive data types. These can be extended with custom rules tailored to your business — making it easier to protect sensitive information, prevent breaches, and meet legal obligations across both cloud and on-premises data.

4. Improved Collaboration Across Teams

By providing a unified catalogue of data assets, Purview helps teams work from a single source of truth. People can find, understand and reuse data more efficiently, reducing duplication of effort and improving overall productivity.

5. Stronger Compliance & Risk Management

Purview’s risk management capabilities give leaders a real-time view of their data landscape. It tracks sensitive information, audits user activity, and generates the detailed reporting needed to demonstrate compliance during audits.

Hurdles and Roadblocks

While the benefits are significant, organisations should plan for a few common challenges during implementation.

1. Data Quality and Complexity

Purview is only as effective as the data underneath it. Organisations with patchy, inconsistent or out-of-date data will need to invest in cleansing and validation up front to ensure accurate classification and mapping.

2. Legacy Systems

Many enterprises run a mix of legacy infrastructure and modern cloud platforms. Bringing all of that into Purview can be technically demanding — particularly for older or unsupported systems — and a phased rollout supported by a strong migration strategy is often the right approach.

3. Skill Gaps

Purview deployments require a blend of data governance expertise, security knowledge and Microsoft platform skills. When those capabilities aren’t available in-house, the platform risks being underused or misconfigured.

How Organisations Benefit

Streamlined Data Management

Purview reduces the time spent on manual data wrangling and gives teams more time to use data to drive business outcomes.

Reduced Compliance Risk

With regulation evolving constantly, the ability to automatically identify and protect sensitive data is critical. Purview lowers the risk of non-compliance, fines and reputational damage.

Maximising Existing Investments

For Microsoft 365, Azure or Power BI customers, Purview unlocks more value from tools that are already in place — improving visibility, security and collaboration without major new spend.

Novon’s Specialist Purview Implementation Team

Microsoft Purview is a powerful platform — but realising its full potential takes experience. Novon’s team brings deep data governance expertise and proven Purview delivery experience, helping our clients sidestep common pitfalls and accelerate time to value.

Recent Case Study

A government organisation came to Novon following a data governance audit that identified low maturity. The challenges were familiar:

• Poor visibility over existing data assets
• Heavy manual handling and processing of data, both within established platforms and in spreadsheets and disparate reporting tools
• Business users heavily dependent on a small data and analytics team to source and report on data
• Sensitive data without clear identification or controls
• A greenfield environment requiring an end-to-end data governance practice, supporting policies and a fit-for-purpose tool

The Novon Team

• Data Governance Principal Consultants — leading the governance conversation and shaping the program
• Azure Cloud Engineers — establishing Purview within the client’s Microsoft tenancy
• Data-Focused Business Analysts — gathering and documenting business requirements

The Project

• Worked with the client’s Azure team to stand up Purview within their tenancy
• Connected Purview to source systems and the data warehouse to expose enterprise data assets through a data catalogue
• Introduced a business catalogue with business terms linked back to underlying data assets
• Established data lineage and traceability so stakeholders could see how data flows across the organisation
• Enabled automatic scanning and classification to determine sensitivity and apply protection
• Defined a taxonomy aligned to organisational structure to make data easier to find and understand
• Engaged Risk & Compliance teams to align Purview reporting and access controls with existing risk policies
• Partnered with Cyber Security, Risk & Compliance and IT to define and apply appropriate data access controls