Burst Targets with External Data Connections that use Per-User Authentication

As described in Bringing Back Data from an External Connection, the user may be prompted to authenticate when the report is open or attempts to connect to a data source when running. This article will cover how this works for burst targets that use external data connections that require authentication.

The burst calculation in the burst driver controls authentication using the 'Authentication timing' setting. This setting has two options:

On report open

Indicates to authenticate the burst target's per-user connections when the driver is opened. This would include any of the burst target's table lookups configured to authenticate on report open.

When first used

Indicates to authenticate the burst target's per-user connections when the driver first uses the target. This would include any of the burst target's table lookups configured to authenticate on report open.

This option is useful for reports that have burst targets that are not always used when running the report. For example, there might be a drilldown to a report that uses an OAuth connection that only applies to certain business units. Such a burst would be a good candidate for the When first used option where only the users accessing those business units would need to authenticate.

Note

Remember that table lookups within the burst target's variables are always considered to be 'On report open' regardless of the table lookup's 'Authentication timing' setting.