Data Activator GA: Automated Actions from Data

Data Activator is now Generally Available in Microsoft Fabric. It enables automated actions based on data conditions without writing code. Let’s explore how to use it.

What is Data Activator?

Data Activator monitors your data and triggers actions when conditions are met:

Data Source → Condition Detection → Action Trigger
     ↓              ↓                    ↓
Eventhouse      Rules/Triggers       Email/Teams/
Power BI        (no-code)           Power Automate
Event Streams

Core Concepts

Reflexes

A Reflex is a Data Activator item containing:

• Objects: Entities to monitor (devices, customers, orders)
• Triggers: Conditions that fire actions
• Actions: What happens when triggers fire

Objects and Properties

Object: Device
├── Properties
│   ├── Temperature (numeric)
│   ├── Status (string)
│   └── LastSeen (datetime)
└── Triggers
    ├── HighTemperature
    ├── OfflineAlert
    └── AnomalyDetected

Creating a Reflex

From Event Stream

# Connect Data Activator to Event Stream
reflex_config = {
    "name": "IoT Device Monitor",
    "source": {
        "type": "EventStream",
        "eventStreamId": event_stream_id,
        "keyColumn": "DeviceId"  # Groups events by device
    },
    "objects": [
        {
            "name": "Device",
            "keyProperty": "DeviceId",
            "properties": [
                {"name": "Temperature", "path": "$.readings.temperature", "type": "numeric"},
                {"name": "Humidity", "path": "$.readings.humidity", "type": "numeric"},
                {"name": "Status", "path": "$.status", "type": "string"},
                {"name": "Timestamp", "path": "$.timestamp", "type": "datetime"}
            ]
        }
    ]
}

From Power BI

# Connect to Power BI report
reflex_config = {
    "name": "Sales Monitor",
    "source": {
        "type": "PowerBI",
        "reportId": report_id,
        "datasetId": dataset_id
    },
    "objects": [
        {
            "name": "Region",
            "keyProperty": "RegionName",
            "properties": [
                {"name": "TotalSales", "measure": "Sum of Sales"},
                {"name": "OrderCount", "measure": "Count of Orders"},
                {"name": "AvgOrderValue", "measure": "Average Order Value"}
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Trigger Types

Threshold Triggers

# Simple threshold
trigger:
  name: "High Temperature Alert"
  object: Device
  property: Temperature
  condition:
    type: threshold
    operator: greaterThan
    value: 80
  action:
    type: email
    recipients: ["ops@company.com"]

# Threshold with duration
trigger:
  name: "Sustained High Temperature"
  object: Device
  property: Temperature
  condition:
    type: threshold
    operator: greaterThan
    value: 80
    duration: "5m"  # Must exceed for 5 minutes
  action:
    type: teams
    channelId: "channel-123"

Change Detection

# Value change
trigger:
  name: "Status Change Alert"
  object: Device
  property: Status
  condition:
    type: change
    from: "online"
    to: "offline"
  action:
    type: email
    recipients: ["support@company.com"]
    template: "Device {{DeviceId}} went offline at {{Timestamp}}"

# Percentage change
trigger:
  name: "Sales Spike"
  object: Region
  property: TotalSales
  condition:
    type: percentageChange
    operator: greaterThan
    value: 20
    compareWindow: "1h"
  action:
    type: powerAutomate
    flowId: "flow-abc123"

Pattern Detection

# Anomaly detection
trigger:
  name: "Anomaly Detected"
  object: Device
  property: Temperature
  condition:
    type: anomaly
    sensitivity: medium  # low, medium, high
    lookbackWindow: "24h"
  action:
    type: teams
    message: "Anomaly detected for {{DeviceId}}: Temperature = {{Temperature}}"

# Missing data
trigger:
  name: "Device Offline"
  object: Device
  property: Timestamp
  condition:
    type: missing
    duration: "10m"  # No data for 10 minutes
  action:
    type: email
    recipients: ["support@company.com"]

Actions

Email Actions

action:
  type: email
  recipients:
    - "team@company.com"
    - "{{Device.Owner}}"  # Dynamic recipient
  subject: "Alert: {{TriggerName}}"
  body: |
    Device: {{DeviceId}}
    Current Value: {{Temperature}}
    Threshold: 80
    Time: {{Timestamp}}

    View dashboard: https://fabric.microsoft.com/dashboard/...

Teams Actions

action:
  type: teams
  channelId: "19:abc123@thread.tacv2"
  adaptiveCard:
    type: "AdaptiveCard"
    body:
      - type: "TextBlock"
        text: "Alert: {{TriggerName}}"
        weight: "bolder"
        size: "large"
      - type: "FactSet"
        facts:
          - title: "Device"
            value: "{{DeviceId}}"
          - title: "Value"
            value: "{{Temperature}}"
          - title: "Time"
            value: "{{Timestamp}}"
    actions:
      - type: "Action.OpenUrl"
        title: "View Details"
        url: "https://fabric.microsoft.com/..."

Power Automate Actions

action:
  type: powerAutomate
  flowId: "flow-xyz789"
  parameters:
    deviceId: "{{DeviceId}}"
    alertType: "{{TriggerName}}"
    currentValue: "{{Temperature}}"
    timestamp: "{{Timestamp}}"

Complex Scenarios

Multi-Condition Triggers

trigger:
  name: "Critical Situation"
  object: Device
  conditions:
    operator: AND
    items:
      - property: Temperature
        type: threshold
        operator: greaterThan
        value: 90
      - property: Humidity
        type: threshold
        operator: greaterThan
        value: 80
      - property: Status
        type: equals
        value: "production"
  action:
    type: teams
    urgency: "important"

Aggregated Triggers

trigger:
  name: "Multiple Devices Offline"
  object: Device
  aggregation:
    function: count
    filter:
      property: Status
      equals: "offline"
  condition:
    type: threshold
    operator: greaterThan
    value: 5  # More than 5 devices offline
  action:
    type: email
    urgency: "critical"

Scheduled Digests

trigger:
  name: "Daily Summary"
  schedule:
    type: daily
    time: "08:00"
    timezone: "Pacific Standard Time"
  query: |
    summarize
      TotalAlerts = count(),
      CriticalAlerts = countif(Severity == "Critical"),
      TopDevice = arg_max(AlertCount, DeviceId)
      over last 24h
  action:
    type: email
    template: "daily-summary"

Integration with Other Fabric Items

From Eventhouse

// Create a view that Data Activator can monitor
.create function MonitorableDevices() {
    SensorData
    | where EventTime > ago(5m)
    | summarize
        LatestValue = arg_max(EventTime, Value),
        AvgValue = avg(Value),
        MaxValue = max(Value)
        by DeviceId
}

From Lakehouse

# Create Delta table for Data Activator
spark.sql("""
    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS gold.device_metrics
    AS SELECT
        DeviceId,
        current_timestamp() as MetricTime,
        avg(Value) as AvgValue,
        max(Value) as MaxValue,
        count(*) as ReadingCount
    FROM silver.sensor_readings
    WHERE EventTime > current_timestamp() - INTERVAL 1 HOUR
    GROUP BY DeviceId
""")

Best Practices

1. Start with high-value alerts - Focus on actionable conditions
2. Avoid alert fatigue - Don’t trigger too often
3. Use appropriate channels - Email for reports, Teams for urgent
4. Include context - Make alerts actionable
5. Test thoroughly - Verify triggers work as expected

Monitoring and Management

# Get trigger statistics
stats = client.data_activator.get_trigger_stats(
    reflex_id=reflex_id,
    time_range="7d"
)

print(f"Total triggers fired: {stats['total_fired']}")
print(f"Actions succeeded: {stats['actions_succeeded']}")
print(f"Actions failed: {stats['actions_failed']}")

# Pause/resume triggers
client.data_activator.pause_trigger(reflex_id, trigger_id)
client.data_activator.resume_trigger(reflex_id, trigger_id)

What’s Next

Tomorrow I’ll cover Reflex triggers in more detail.

Resources

• Data Activator Documentation
• Trigger Types
• Action Configuration