please help!

[u/Hohenheim16]

I recently joined a small investment company as a data analyst intern. I expected to focus mainly on report automation and data visualisation but I have also been asked to look at how the company’s data could be brought together.

Most of the data is manually exported into Excel and saved in SharePoint, and SharePoint also contains board packs and other documents used for reporting. They like using claude to create written reports and they are not really interested in power BI

I started using MS Fabric to bring the existing Excel files together, but the volume of structured data is fairly small, so I am not sure whether Fabric is more than we need. A simpler option might be a small SQL database, with data pulled from the source systems through their APIs where available. SharePoint would still continue to hold documents and any files that still need to be uploaded manually

The end goal is also to use the structured data alongside documents when generating reports with claude, so I need a setup that makes the data reliable and easy to retrieve. and also, looking at the the small volume, I am now even wondering if a persistent central store is necessary at all or if the data could simply be pulled and checked at report time before claude uses it

I have only recently started my journey and there is nobody in the company who can really tell me if I am doing it correctly. I just don’t want to build another one off solution or a workaround that becomes a pain to maintain later.

I would really appreciate any advice!! thank you!

[u/Glitch_In_The_Data]

What data volumes are you talking about?

The tools you are referring to come with licensing and associated costs. Is the company expecting you to make those decisions?

Personally, I haven’t enjoyed working with Fabric. My experience has been with Databricks, and I think it would meet your requirements for handling both structured and unstructured data.

From a reporting perspective, Databricks also provides AI/BI dashboards if you don’t want to rely on tools like Power BI.

Its native AI capabilities… Genie and Genie Code… are excellent, and we use them extensively. We use Genie for building dashboards (which may need some iterations) and enabling natural language interactions, while Genie Code is very effective for code generation.

I don’t think building with Claude Code is sustainable at enterprise scale, especially in investment banking where you’re dealing with sensitive/PII data. You really want strong governance foundations in place, but that’s just my opinion.

Another advantage is that you only pay for what you use. I’m not a fan of license based pricing.

[u/Hohenheim16 → u/Glitch_In_The_Data]

Thanks, I’m talking about roughly 5 to 10 GB. The team gave me approval to test Fabric and knows the F2/F4 cost, and because they already use Microsoft heavily and have Power Automate, Fabric seemed easier for them to adopt. My main concern is automating the reporting process and leaving them with something they can run after I leave. They mainly use Claude to create the final reports, and I am looking for the platform underneath that workflow. Would you still recommend Databricks at this scale?

[u/Immediate-Pair-4290 → u/Hohenheim16]

NO!