Azure Data Factory, Data Factory, Power Query: What is what?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to short ciruit some knowledge aquisition here. What tools are actually being used to create data workflows and data pipelines? It is my understanding that data workflows are using PowerQuery and that data pipelines are using a fabric-specific flavor of ADF (not full on ADD). Can someone please let me know if I have it correct? Also, if anyone can expand this in any way I will be grateful. Thank you!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Let me try to explain these tools and their uses:

• Azure Data Factory (ADF) is a fully managed data integration service that allows you to create data-driven workflows to orchestrate data movement and transformation at scale.Power Query is integrated into Azure Data Factory, enabling you to build and execute Power Query in a Data Factory pipeline mash-ups to perform data wrangling at scale. This means you can use Power Query to create code-free transformations directly in ADF pipelines.
• Power Query is a data connectivity technology that enables you to discover, connect, combine, and refine data from a variety of sources. It is commonly used for data preparation in tools such as Excel and Power BI. In the context of Azure Data Factory, Power Query allows you to perform interactive data exploration and transformation.

For more difference between above, you can refer to below document:

Introduction to Azure Data Factory - Azure Data Factory | Microsoft Learn

What is Power Query? - Power Query | Microsoft Learn

Differences between Data Factory in Fabric and Azure - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards,
Adamk Kong

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