Fabric Governance

Fabric Governance

When to Use

• Configuring workspace roles and item-level permissions in Microsoft Fabric
• Applying sensitivity labels from Microsoft Purview to Fabric items
• Setting up endorsement (Promoted or Certified) for data quality signaling
• Designing domain structure and workspace organization for enterprise Fabric deployment
• Implementing row-level security (RLS) in semantic models
• Preparing for Microsoft Fabric Data Engineer Associate (DP-700) exam

Core Jobs

1. Workspace Roles

• Workspace roles apply to ALL items in the workspace — no item-level granularity at this level
• Use item-level permissions for selective sharing outside the workspace

2. Item-Level Permissions

• Share specific Fabric items (Lakehouse, Semantic Model, Report) with users outside the workspace
• Lakehouse item permissions:
  • Read — view metadata; cannot query data
  • ReadData — read data via SQL analytics endpoint or Spark
  • ReadAll — read all files/tables including via OneLake APIs
  • Write — modify Lakehouse data (for Pipelines, Dataflows writing to Lakehouse)
• Semantic model: share with Build permission to allow report creation
• Useful pattern: share Gold layer Lakehouse SQL endpoint with BI team without workspace access

3. OneLake Data Access Roles (Preview)

• Grant read access to specific folders within OneLake (sub-Lakehouse level)
• Define custom roles with path-based access (e.g., /Tables/orders but not /Tables/hr_data)
• Enables fine-grained data access without exposing entire Lakehouse
• Replaces older OneLake ACL-based access in newer Fabric experiences

4. Sensitivity Labels

• Source: Microsoft Purview Information Protection labels (e.g., Public, Confidential, Highly Confidential)
• Apply to Fabric items: Semantic Models, Reports, Lakehouses, Dataflows
• Label inheritance (downstream propagation):
  • Dataset/Semantic model with label → exported reports and dashboards inherit the label
  • Higher sensitivity wins when items have conflicting labels
• Labels control: encryption, access restrictions, watermarking (enforced by Purview policy)
• Tenant admin must enable label inheritance in Fabric Admin portal

5. Endorsement

• Endorsement appears on item cards in Fabric workspace and Power BI service
• Certified = must be explicitly enabled by tenant admin; certifiers assigned per domain
• Endorsed items surface higher in search results

6. Domain Management

• Domain = organizational grouping of workspaces (e.g., Finance, Marketing, HR)
• Workspaces can belong to one domain at a time
• Domain admin role: manage domain settings; assign workspaces to domain
• Domain-level settings: default sensitivity labels, certification policy, delegate certifiers
• Use domains for: decentralized governance, business unit ownership, cross-workspace search scoping

7. Row-Level Security (RLS)

• Defined in Semantic Model (not Lakehouse or Warehouse directly)
• DAX filter expressions restrict rows based on USERPRINCIPALNAME() or role membership
• Example: [Region] = LOOKUPVALUE(UserRegion[Region], UserRegion[Email], USERPRINCIPALNAME())
• RLS roles assigned to Entra ID users or groups
• Dynamic RLS: single role with DAX expression; static RLS: separate roles per group
• RLS does NOT apply when querying Lakehouse SQL analytics endpoint directly (only in semantic model)

Key Concepts

• Workspace roles — Admin > Member > Contributor > Viewer; apply to all items in workspace
• Item permissions — selective sharing of individual items with users outside workspace
• Sensitivity label — Purview-based classification; flows downstream to reports and exports
• Endorsement — Promoted (workspace-level trust) or Certified (org-level trust)
• Domain — logical grouping of workspaces; governance boundary for enterprise Fabric
• RLS — row-level security in semantic model; restricts data rows per user identity
• OneLake data access role — path-based access control within OneLake storage

Checklist

• Workspace roles assigned with least privilege (Viewer for read-only consumers)?
• Item-level permissions used for sharing with users outside the workspace?
• Sensitivity labels applied to Semantic Models and Lakehouses containing sensitive data?
• Certified endorsement configured for organization-wide trusted datasets?
• Domains created to group workspaces by business unit or data domain?
• RLS implemented in Semantic Model for user-specific data filtering?
• OneLake data access roles configured for sub-Lakehouse folder-level control?

Output Format

• 🔴 Critical — Viewer-role users accessing Lakehouse SQL endpoint without explicit ReadData permission (Viewer does not auto-grant data read)
• 🔴 Critical — RLS defined in Lakehouse (not supported); RLS only works in Semantic Model layer
• 🟡 Warning — sharing workspace access when item-level sharing would provide least-privilege access
• 🟡 Warning — sensitivity labels not propagating to exported reports (check tenant label inheritance setting)
• 🟢 Suggestion — implement Certified endorsement on Gold layer semantic models to guide BI users to trusted data

Exam Tips

• Workspace roles apply to ALL items — Contributor can create/edit items but CANNOT share or manage workspace membership
• Item permissions for selective sharing — share specific Lakehouse or Semantic Model with users without granting workspace access
• Sensitivity labels flow downstream — labeled semantic model → labeled reports and dashboards; higher sensitivity wins
• Certified endorsement = tenant admin must enable — requires explicit configuration; certifiers are designated users per domain
• OneLake data access roles — grant read access to specific OneLake folders (sub-Lakehouse level); newer, more granular than workspace roles
• Domain = one workspace belongs to one domain — workspaces cannot be in multiple domains; use for organizational governance boundaries