Microsoft Graph 

This is a continuation of a series of articles on Azure services from an operational engineering perspective with the most recent introduction of this topic with the link here. The previous article discussed the connectors used with Microsoft Graph. This article introduces the Microsoft Graph Data Connect. Microsoft Graph enables integration with the best of Microsoft 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise mobility and security services in Microsoft 365, using REST APIs and client libraries

Microsoft Graph provides a unified programmability model and similar in its utility as a Kusto cluster and database. The Microsoft Graph model allows Microsoft Graph Connectors to access data from different data sources and provides a common way to query the data. It is the gateway to data and intelligence in Microsoft 365. It can also act as a source for downstream Azure data stores that require data to be delivered. The Microsoft Graph Data Connect provides a set of tools to streamline secure and scalable delivery of Microsoft Graph Data.

The emphasis is on heterogeneity of data in the form of files, messages, meetings, user, people, devices, groups, calendar, coworkers, insights, chats, teams, and tasks. The unified programming access it provides can access data in and across Microsoft services including the Cloud, the hybrid cloud and the third-party cloud. A thin aggregation layer is used to route incoming requests to their corresponding destination services. This pattern of data virtualization is not uncommon, but the collection of data and the unified model provides an incredible opportunity for developers.

Microsoft Graph Data Connect augments Microsoft Graph’s transactional model with an intelligent way to access rich data at scale. It is ideal to connect big data and for machine learning.

It allows us to develop applications for analytics, intelligence, and business process optimization by extending Microsoft 365 data into Azure. It uses Azure Data Factory to copy Microsoft 365 data to the application’s storage at configurable intervals. It provides a set of tools to streamline the delivery of this data into Microsoft Azure. It allows us to manage the data and see who is accessing it, and it requests specific properties of an entity. It enhances the Microsoft Graph model, which grants or denies applications access to entire entities. The granular data consent model allows applications to access only specific properties in an entity and opens new use cases on the same data without compromising security and isolation. It supports all Azure native capabilities such as encryption, geo fencing, auditing and policy enforcement.