All Things M365 Compliance Podcast Ep 23: MPARR – Microsoft 365 Reporting

All Things M365 Compliance Episode 23: Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR) Sebastian Zamorano

In Episode 23 of the All Things M365 Compliance Podcast, hosts Ryan John Murphy and Nikki Chapple explore the innovative Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR) with Sebastián Zamorano. MPARR takes Microsoft Purview’s standard reporting capabilities to the next level by using APIs to collect data on over 680 activities. The result? Users can create customized and detailed PowerBI reports that offer a comprehensive overview of your Microsoft 365 data landscape, providing a reassuringly thorough understanding of your data. This enhances your ability to manage and protect sensitive information and provides a clear understanding of your compliance posture.

You can read on to learn more about Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR) and watch or listen to the podcast.

The Importance of Reporting on Microsoft 365 Data

As generative AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot become more popular, organizations are increasingly aware of the risks associated with data overexposure. This heightened awareness has led to a greater demand for detailed insights into sensitive data within Microsoft 365. Organizations are also concerned about related security and compliance risks.

Microsoft Purview records all interactions in the Unified Audit log, providing a comprehensive audit trail for analysis. However, the retention period for audit log data is limited to the last 180 days for A3, E3, and G5 licenses, while the retention period for A5, E5, and G5 licenses is 365 days.

Additionally, Microsoft Purview offers several pre-built dashboards to give you an overview of your data. out-of-the-box dashboards to get an overview of your data, such as:

  • Purview Data Explorer: a powerful tool for identifying sensitive data stored in your Microsoft 365 environment.
  • Purview Activity Explorer: Monitors activities associated with sensitive content or applied labels, including label changes, modified files, and additional actions. Label activities are recorded across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and endpoint devices.
  • The new Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management for AI (DSPM for AI) enables you to uncover and protect AI activities in Microsoft 365 Copilot and other third-party generative AI applications.

However, suppose you need to drill into the activity details to create your custom reporting. In that case, you must search and export the audit data via PowerShell or Graph API or use the Office 365 Management API to collect and store the data in another location. The current log architecture of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview is shown below.

Microsoft 365 & Microsoft Purview current log architecture – Source https://github.com/microsoft/Microsoft-Purview-Advanced-Rich-Reports-MPARR-Collector

Introducing Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR)

If you want to build custom dashboards and user-friendly reports that anyone can share without needing admin permissions, then use Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR). This open-source tool gathers data daily through APIs and sends it to a Log Analytics workspace. It also has a set of standard reporting you can use.

Current Architecture for MPARR. Source GitHub – microsoft/Microsoft-Purview-Advanced-Rich-Reports-MPARR-Collector: Repository with all the MPARR components solution

You can analyze data in Sentinel; furthermore, you can use Power BI Desktop to access a suite of prebuilt advanced reports, which enables you to share them with different audiences through Power BI online workspaces. Additionally, you can customize and create your own queries, dashboards, and reports. For example, you can report sensitivity labeling by department and country, as shown in the screenshot below. Overall, these tools provide a comprehensive approach to data analysis and reporting.

Report on Unified Labeling Overview filtering by Department and Country. Source GitHub – microsoft/Microsoft-Purview-Advanced-Rich-Reports-MPARR-Collector: Repository with all the MPARR components solution

Key Features of MPARR

Detailed Reporting: MPARR allows users to create in-depth reports that cover various aspects of data storage and usage within Microsoft 365. You can customize these reports to focus on specific data types, user activities, and compliance requirements, and then share them with different audiences. This negates the need to provide users with Purview admin permissions to view the out-of-the-box reports. For example, unified labeling by department and country

Risk Assessment: By leveraging MPARR, organizations can identify potential risks associated with data exposure. The tool gives insights into who accesses sensitive information, how users share it, and any anomalies in data usage patterns.

Compliance Monitoring: MPARR supports compliance efforts by tracking adherence to data governance policies. It helps ensure that data handling practices align with regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.

Integration with Power BI: One of MPARR’s standout features is its seamless integration with Power BI. This integration enables users to create interactive dashboards and visualizations. It simplifies the analysis and interpretation of data collected by MPARR.

Benefits of Using MPARR

Enhanced Compliance: MPARR provides detailed insights into your data governance practices, helping ensure that your organization complies with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA.

Improved Data Management: MPARR’s rich reports offer a clear view of your data assets, helping you manage and protect them more effectively.

Informed Decision-Making: With access to comprehensive and customizable reports, decision-makers can confidently make more informed choices regarding data governance and compliance strategies.

Open Source: Sebastián Zamorano created MPARR as an open-source project, making it freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. This open-source nature encourages collaboration and continuous improvement from the community.

Curious to see how MPARR can transform your data security and compliance reporting?

Watch All Things M365 Compliance podcast Episode 23: MPARR, where Sebastián Zamorano provides an overview of MPARR and explores the future of Microsoft 365 data security reporting.

Alternatively, you can listen to the All Things M365 Compliance podcast Episode 23: MPARR on Spotify.

I also recommend that you watch Sebastián Zamorano’s MPARR – Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports YouTube Channel, where he provides step-by-step guides on how to set up and use MPARR.

Getting Started with MPARR

To start using Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR), you can first visit the GitHub repository. There, you will find detailed instructions for installing and configuring the tool and discover sample reports and dashboards that can aid in understanding the tool’s capabilities. This will help you get started quickly and easily.

Conclusion

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, understanding data security and compliance is critical. Microsoft Purview Advanced Rich Reports (MPARR) offers a powerful solution for organizations. It provides a comprehensive view of the Microsoft 365 data environment. With detailed insights and analytics, MPARR helps identify risks. It also monitors security, compliance, and adoption metrics. This enables informed decision-making and better management of Microsoft 365 data security and compliance.

I hope you enjoyed this episode, So stay ahead of the curve – subscribe to All Things M365 Compliance podcast today to receive valuable insights from the Microsoft Purview Product team, Microsoft MVPs, and other experts in Microsoft security and compliance.

References

MPARR articles

Microsoft Learn articles

About All Things M365 Compliance podcast

Don’t forget to take a look at our most recent All Things M365 Compliance podcast episodes and subscribe now.

Keep Reading

Previous