The shiny new integration layer that delivers clean, trusted data to the outside world for custom software development
Microsoft Fabric been around for two years now, and it just keeps getting better. But with the addition of Materialized Lake Views and the ability to share data externally via GraphQL, it’s really starting to shine. Now it’s not just a great platform for internal analytics — it’s a tool that helps you deliver clean, trusted data directly to the people and systems that need it. Simple, powerful, and finally built for how we actually work with data today.
In the age of composable architectures and real-time data needs, building custom software that seamlessly integrates internal and external data sources is more critical than ever. Microsoft Fabric, with its powerful Lakehouse foundation and Materialized Lake Views, already offers a robust platform for data transformation and governance.
Now, with the introduction of GraphQL as an API layer, Fabric takes a bold step forward — enabling developers to expose curated, high-quality data to external applications in a flexible, efficient, and developer-friendly way.
Whether you’re building internal tools, customer-facing apps, or integrating with third-party services, this new GraphQL layer acts as a bridge between your governed data estate and the outside world.
Microsoft Fabric, the ideal platform for modern data architectures
What I love about Microsoft Fabric is that it feels like someone finally understood what working with data should be like. Instead of juggling five different tools, Fabric brings everything together — data engineering, analytics, governance, and even real-time triggers — all in one place, and all speaking the same language.
You don’t have to worry about moving data between systems or stitching together pipelines with duct tape. Everything sits on top of OneLake, so whether you’re transforming data, analyzing it, or exposing it through an API, you’re always working from a single, consistent foundation.
And the best part? It’s composable. You can start small — maybe just ingesting and transforming data — and then layer on analytics, real-time alerts, or external APIs as your needs grow. It scales with you, and it never feels like you’re locked into a rigid architecture.
For me, Fabric isn’t just a tool — it’s the platform that finally makes modern data architecture feel clean, powerful, and actually enjoyable to work with.
Bring structure and clarity to your data workflows. Enter the Medallion Architecture
Once you’ve experienced how cohesive and intuitive Fabric feels, the next step is to bring structure and clarity to your data workflows. That’s where the Medallion architecture comes in — or more precisely, the Medallion framework.
It’s important to understand that the Medallion model isn’t a full data architecture in itself. It’s a framework for organizing and cleaning data — a way to bring order to the chaos. You move from raw data (Bronze), to cleaned and enriched data (Silver), to business-ready insights (Gold). It’s simple, elegant, and incredibly effective.
In Microsoft Fabric, implementing this framework feels natural. You can define each layer using SQL, orchestrate transformations with Data Factory, and store everything in OneLake — all without leaving the platform. The result is a clean, modular pipeline that’s easy to maintain and scale.
Clean, Organize and structure with the Medaillion framework and Materialized Lake Views
What makes Microsoft Fabric such a natural fit for the Medallion framework is the flexibility it gives you in how you implement each layer. Whether you’re working with raw ingestion, data cleansing, or business logic, you can choose the right tool for the job — and stay entirely within the Fabric ecosystem.
You can define your transformations using SQL, which is ideal for clear, declarative logic. If you’re dealing with large-scale or complex processing, Spark is available for distributed compute. And for more exploratory or data science–driven workflows, notebooks offer a familiar and powerful environment. But while Fabric gives you options, there’s one approach that stands out for its simplicity, maintainability, and performance: Materialized Lake Views.
These views allow you to define each Medallion layer — Bronze, Silver, and Gold — using SQL, and Fabric takes care of the rest. The views are automatically materialized, refreshed, and optimized behind the scenes. You don’t have to manage refresh logic, dependency tracking, or performance tuning manually — it’s all built in.
Using Materialized Lake Views means your data pipelines are:
- Declarative: You describe what you want, not how to compute it
- Modular: Each layer is cleanly separated and easy to reason about
- Governed: Integrated with Fabric’s lineage, access control, and monitoring
- Ready for delivery: Gold-layer views can be exposed directly via GraphQL APIs to power external applications
In short, Materialized Lake Views are the most Fabric-native way to implement the Medallion framework — and they make your data not just clean, but truly production-ready.
GraphQL: Bringing Clean, Trusted Data to the Outside World
Once your data is structured, cleaned, and business-ready — especially in the Gold layer of your Medallion framework — the next question is: how do you make it accessible to the people and systems that need it?
This is where GraphQL becomes a game-changer.
Microsoft Fabric now supports exposing data through GraphQL APIs, allowing developers to query exactly the data they need — no more, no less. Unlike traditional REST APIs, which often require multiple endpoints and overfetching, GraphQL gives consumers a single, flexible interface to interact with your curated data.
And because this API layer is built directly on top of Fabric’s governed data foundation, you’re not just exposing data — you’re exposing trusted, versioned, and secure data. That means:
- Frontend developers can build apps faster, without waiting on backend changes
- External partners can integrate with your data without compromising governance
- Internal tools can access real-time insights without duplicating logic
GraphQL becomes the integration layer that connects your internal data excellence with the outside world — whether that’s a customer portal, a mobile app, or a partner ecosystem.
It’s the final piece of the puzzle: from raw data to refined insights, and from insights to action — all within a single, unified platform.
Wrapping up
Microsoft Fabric has grown into something really special. With its unified platform, flexible tooling, and now the ability to deliver clean, structured data through GraphQL, it’s not just for data teams anymore — it’s for everyone who builds with data. Whether you’re powering internal tools or enabling entire departments to work smarter, Microsoft Fabric gives you the foundation to do it right.
And the best part? It keeps getting better.