Yes, it is possible to use a single access token for multiple PBIE reports, but security, token expiry, and performance should be carefully considered.
1. Security
Scope of Token: The access token is often scoped to a number of reports or dashboards in a workspace. While having a single access token across multiple reports saves time, care must be taken to ensure that the token is only scoped to the minimum resources necessary to avoid over-permission. Each token should have a scope for a specific report or dashboard to be embedded.
Sensitive Data Risk: The use of a single token across multiple reports brings forth a great risk chance for exposing more data than intended if a security breach occurs to the given token. A single embedded session may allow access to a larger set of data or reports than is needed.
2. Token Expiration:
Expiration time: The Power BI Embedded access token has an expiration time (the default is usually one hour). In this case, using a single token for different reports may result in some reports stopping working after the token expires. Where you have multiple reports on a single token, ensure you have a preferred strategy for a seamless token refresh to avoid disrupting users.
Renewal Process: Token renewal should be properly taken care of before expiry to avoid disruptions by refreshing tokens. Suppose one token is used for many reports. A more tailored token management mechanism that accounts for the expiration of all these reports using that particular token might be required.
3. Performance
Session Management: One token for all reports actually saves overhead from token generation. However, handle concurrent sessions and requests well within the application to avoid bottlenecking. Loading a set of multiple reports with one common token will bring down performance if those reports are data-intensive.
Load Balancing: If a given user actually uses embedded reports with a lot of users, you need to think about token caching, session management, and API calls that are efficient enough so performance degradation is avoided.
Conclusion
It is feasible to use a single access token with multiple Power BI Embedded reports. However, taking into account security risks, token expiration management, and performance monitoring is usually advisable. It is actually best practice to use separate tokens per report or user session when possible, especially in cases of sensitive data or high traffic.
