Azure Synapse proof of concept playbook

Whether it's an enterprise data warehouse migration, a big data re-platforming, or a greenfield implementation, each project traditionally starts with a proof of concept (POC).

The Synapse proof of concept playbook is a series of related articles that provide a high-level methodology for planning, preparing, and running an effective Azure Synapse Analytics POC project. The overall objective of a POC is to validate potential solutions to technical problems, such as how to integrate systems or how to achieve certain results through a specific configuration. As emphasized by this series, an effective POC validates that certain concepts have the potential for real-world production application.

Playbook audiences

The playbook helps you to evaluate the use of Azure Synapse when migrating from an existing workload. We designed it for the following audiences:

• Technical experts who are planning their own in-house Azure Synapse POC project.
• Business owners who will be part of the execution or evaluation of an Azure Synapse POC project.
• Anyone looking to learn more about data warehousing POC projects.

Playbook content

The playbook delivers the following content:

• Guidance on what makes an effective POC.
• Guidance on how to make valid comparisons between systems.
• Guidance on the technical aspects of running an Azure Synapse POC.
• A road map to relevant technical content from Azure Synapse.
• Guidance on how to evaluate POC results to support business decisions.
• Guidance on how and where to find additional help.

The playbook includes three subjects:

• Data warehousing with dedicated SQL pool in Azure Synapse Analytics
• Data lake exploration with serverless SQL pool in Azure Synapse Analytics
• Big data analytics with Apache Spark pool in Azure Synapse Analytics

Next steps