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Decision Guide

Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence offers multiple ways to connect workloads and move data between services. Use this guide to choose the right approach for your scenario.

Capabilities at a glance

Capability What it is Best for
Business Events Schema-defined signals published by Fabric workloads to Real-Time Hub Discrete, meaningful occurrences that need to reach one or more consumers independently
Eventstream High-throughput streaming pipeline for continuous data IoT telemetry, clickstreams, logs, and any high-volume continuous data
Activator Rules engine that monitors data and triggers actions Reacting to conditions in streams or Business Events without writing code
Direct API call HTTP call made from a Notebook or User Data Function to an external service When you need a synchronous response from a service outside Fabric

Should I use Business Events?

flowchart TD
    A[I need to signal that\nsomething happened] --> B{Is it a continuous\nstream of data?}
    B -->|Yes: high-volume, ongoing| Z1[Use Eventstream]
    B -->|No: a discrete condition occurred| C{Do other workloads\nneed to act on this?}
    C -->|Yes| E[Use Business Events ✅]
    C -->|No: I need an immediate\nresponse to continue| Z2[Make a direct API call\nfrom a Notebook or UDF]

When to use each option in Fabric

Use Business Events when:

  • A Notebook finishes a transformation and Activator or Eventhouse need to react
  • A threshold condition is detected and multiple consumers need to be notified independently
  • You want to add a new consumer without modifying the publisher
  • You need a schema contract that enforces what data the event carries

Use Eventstream when:

  • You are ingesting continuous data from IoT sensors, event producers, or external systems
  • You need to process or route high-volume data streams in real time
  • The data is a stream, not a discrete signal

Use Activator directly when:

  • You want to monitor an existing Eventstream or Eventhouse table for conditions
  • You need to trigger alerts or actions without publishing an explicit event
  • The logic lives entirely within Activator and no other consumer needs the signal

Make a direct API call when:

  • You are in a Notebook or User Data Function and need a synchronous response from an external service
  • The call is to a system outside Fabric (a REST API, a database, an external platform)
  • You need the result immediately to continue execution in the same workload

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