Transforming the self-service culture with Copilot and Data Activator

Microsoft Fabric is designed and intended for the needs of non-technical users who need to empower their roles with data.

In this regard, it includes features such as Copilot and Data Activator that are revolutionizing the self-service culture within organizations.

In this article we will analyze the characteristics of each one, the use cases for which they are applicable and the challenges that companies face when it comes to driving the self-service culture.

Data Activator: Automation available to everyone

Data Activator arrived with a mission: to automate tasks based on events that occur within the Microsoft Fabric data platform.

An example: a dashboard monitors the performance of machines on the plant floor. To be a powerful tool, it is necessary to constantly visualize it and act on the information that arises. If the machine is reaching 89% of its capacity and we know that at 95% we will have failures, we can avoid them.

Data Activator simplifies this situation. It allows non-technical users to create automatic rules. In this case, to notify (for example, via Microsoft Teams) a specific group of experts every time the machine passes the 80% threshold. And, at the same time, to run a script to redirect the workload to another machine if by some incident it reached 90%.

In short, Data Activator allows you to “listen” to events, establish rules about them and define actions that will be executed automatically. All this on a visual console within Microsoft Fabric. Thus, users can get value from the tool without relying on IT teams.

Copilot: The best ally of non-technical users

Another great ally of non-technical users is Copilot. Especially those who need to explore their data, process it and create dashboards for themselves or their colleagues. Thanks to generative AI, Copilot helps in the construction of all these elements. Thus, it improves productivity and enables the use of Microsoft Fabric capabilities in an assisted manner.

It also makes it easier for advanced users and technicians to build elements in Microsoft Fabric. It gives them recommendations or generates pieces of their developments that they can request from Copilot in natural language.

In both cases, it flattens the learning curve and provides recommendations. Users are empowered with support that is always at their hand.

Copilot in a visualization tool like PowerBI allows you to interact with dashboards through the visual interface or ask questions about what the user sees on screen. This helps you better adopt dashboards to bring timely answers and filter items for visual support.

Self-service use cases in Microsoft Fabric

Data Activator and Copilot can be used for a variety of use cases.

Some examples with Data Activator:

• Sales monitoring. Set up a trigger that detects a drop in sales in real time. Upon this, Data Activator automatically launches an advertising campaign specific to that store or sends alerts to managers to take corrective action.
• Supermarket cold chain. Set up a trigger that monitors freezer temperatures. If it exceeds a critical threshold, Data Activator sends alerts to store managers to take immediate action, such as moving food to another freezer.

Some examples with Copilot:

• Data engineering. Copilot can automatically generate code snippets to automate tasks such as transforming and data cleansing, saving time and reducing human error.
• SQL query generation. Using natural language, Copilot can be asked to write complex SQL queries, facilitating the analysis of large volumes of data.
• Data Science. Copilot can do predictive modeling: suggest machine learning models based on available data and help implement them quickly.
• Data visualization. Generate visualizations and charts automatically to interpret and present data more effectively.
• Creating reports and data narratives. Copilot can help create detailed, customized reports in Power BI, simply by describing what is needed in natural language. It can also generate narratives and data summaries that make it easier to understand key insights.

Challenges of the self-service culture

Autonomy generates multiple benefits, but also some challenges linked to the increasing complexity of governance. Therefore, it is advisable to establish guidelines and procedures that allow users to know what they can and cannot do, including, in a clear way, in which cases they should ask their leaders for approvals.

Other recommendations:

• Generate active trainings on the use of the tools and best practices that allow to make autonomous developments in a responsible way.
• To inventory and monitor the elements that are produced in the self-service tools to find those that should not have been created.
• In terms of data, generate different development environments. Productive ones usually allow information queries to encourage ideas for new data products. On the development ones, products are developed before going into production with a final review by the team in charge.
• Establish communication channels to ask questions and receive feedback in an open manner about decisions in the use of self-service tools.
• Perform periodic evaluations of autonomy policies and procedures to ensure they remain effective and adjust them as needed. This allows you to adapt to changes in the business and technology environment.

Support from a technology partner like Nubiral can be key to maximizing benefits and keeping risks under control.

Conclusions: Benefits of Copilot and Data Activator

The benefits of using Copillot and Data Activator in self-service schemes include improved productivity. This is due to the fact that tasks are automated quickly and within the reach of more users.

This, in turn, allows maturity in data governance and democratization of the acquired technologies. It also enables non-technical users to exploit data.

By allowing business users to establish alerts and automated actions, risk prevention in the operation is promoted.

In short, Copilot and Data Activator promote the self-service culture so that more members of the organization can provide greater added value.

Would you like your organization to capitalize on all the self-service power that Copilot and Data Activator can provide? We are waiting for your call! Schedule your meeting!