It has come to our attention in recent months that a fair amount of interest has been shown in Microsoft Azure's Purview tool, so we thought we would take this opportunity to talk about it! The first, and most important question to tackle is... What is Purview?

Now, we could take the easy route and Google a description for you, or even use one of those new-fangled LLMs to write something that is factually correct, but perhaps lacking the insights actually working with this tool offers, but we have decided that an honest exploration of the tool and its uses will prove to be more beneficial.

It is difficult to discuss Purview without considering what it means to some of its userbase, for it is different things to different people. Purview, for those who might still be blissfully unaware, is Microsoft’s suite for data governance and compliance. It’s nestled in amongst 20+ admin centres, but here’s the difficulty: defining what Purview is depends entirely on who you ask. It’s the quintessential blind men and the elephant scenario. Let’s break it down by some of the roles that interact with this enigmatic beast.