Announcing the public preview of task flows in Microsoft Fabric
Leverage the power of task flows to design and build your data solutions and manage workspace items in Microsoft Fabric.
We’re thrilled to announce that the task flows feature is now in public preview and is enabled for all existing Microsoft Fabric users. Fabric is unifying everything needed to deliver end-to-end data and analytics solutions within one complete and unified platform. Fabric offers a complete solution for an organization’s data project, from start to finish.
With Fabric task flows, when designing a data project, you no longer need to use a whiteboard to sketch out the different parts of the project and their interrelationships. Instead, you can use a task flow to build and bring this key information into the project itself. The task flow streamlines the design of your data solutions and ensure consistency between design and development efforts. It also allows you to navigate items and manage your workspace more easily, even as it becomes more complex over time.
Hide and show the task flow in your workspace
The new workspace page is divided into two sections: the task flow and the item list, each occupying half of the space by default. If desired, with just a click you can hide the task flow and only show the item list. You can also drag the bar up and down to resize the task flow.
Design a data solution with a task flow
A task flow is a visual guide for building your solution. It shows the relationships of tasks for completing a process or collection of processes. A task is a unit of process within the task flow and has items assigned to it. To set up a task flow, you can start by choosing one of the predesigned task flows that come built-in with Fabric. These predesigned task flows are based on what’s going on in the industry, and provide common, best-practice project designs that can help you get started quickly and efficiently.
Task flows also feature a graphical tool that enables you to create professional diagrams with ease, helping you design your data project and communicate complex information in a clear and concise manner. If you decide not to use one of the predefined task flows, you can also get started by selecting task types and adding tasks to the task flow canvas one by one, gradually building your own task flow with the graphical tool. This enables you to create a tailored solution that meets your unique business needs and goals.
Task flows make it easy for you to get started fast and efficiently, helping you to hit the ground running on your projects.
Collaborate and follow task flow to build data solution
A task flow shows your team members how the project works and helps them get started. It helps them understand the design and to build out the project task by task. For each task, it recommends the most relevant Fabric item types to use. You can select and create corresponding items from tasks directly. You don’t have to wade through all the Fabric items to find the items you need. Rather, you’ll discover the three or four items that truly fit the task. You can also assign existing items in the workspace to tasks that align with the project.
The task flow facilitates a collaborative project and the ongoing development of living documentation as time progresses.
Manage complexity by using the task flow
With items assigned to tasks in the task flow, you can easily understand which items are doing what inside the project, even if you’re revisiting it after a long period. You can navigate the workspace by using the task flow. When you select a task, the item list below shows only the items assigned to that task, making it easier to browse and understand what’s going on. And you can focus on cleaning up one task at a time.
The task flow assists in easy navigation and comprehension, regardless of when you return to the project.
What early adopters are saying
In the private preview, we observed many customers diving into task flows, discovering new insights, and providing valuable feedback. Below we’ve captured a few snippets:
- “The problem that Fabric faces is that workspaces can become cluttered and unmanageable and confusing. Someone new that accesses a workspace doesn’t know what to do. Task flows take this mess and make it into a cohesive, communicable, valuable story.” Simon Nuss, VP Data & Analytics, Hitachi Solutions
- “To document the flow in your architecture is extremely useful. and the transparency makes it easy to spot where you are in the flow.” Mads Steenstrup Hannibal, Principal Architect, Twoday kapacity
- “I have been quite active quite hands on because it’s a piece of functionality that interests me a lot because I do like things like the lineage view within fabric, power BI and of course this now gives us a way of grouping things together and giving a logical representation of a flow which I think is going to be a benefit.” Andy Cutler, Director Data, Datahai
- “The best beauty about task flow is like it makes my life much easier to understand (not a messy workspace). The whole flow where we start, what we are doing and everything. So that’s the one of the beauty I see. “ Matthias Eisenack, Corporate Controlling – Portfolio Manager Financial Performance, Bayer AG
- “Really helps abstract the complexity of individual items to see a higher-level view.” Ed Freeman, Data Engineer, Endjin
- “The task flow gives customers insights in which steps can be taken to realize a desired architecture and also what the possibilities are.” -Erwin de Kreuk, Principal Consultant Data & AI, InSpark
Give it a try yourself
To read more about task flows, check out the documentation.
The task flow feature is still in its early stages, and we’d appreciate it if you could try it and let us know what you think. We can’t wait to see what you’ll build, and we’re always listening to your feedback. Help us prioritize what’s next by adding your ideas here: https://aka.ms/fabricideas
