What is the context, or scope, of this dialog’s settings?

Since there’s more than one category of context in play here, there’s more than one answer. The most obvious contextual category is probably data sets. Looking at settings from the data set scope perspective, “.\sql2017express” is scoped to that entire database server while data set “c:\” covers the entire C: drive.

Data set isn’t the only classification of context that applies to this dialog. Another is at the environment level. How broadly do each of the settings in the above dialog apply? If you open another report, will the settings you set here apply there? What if another user opens this report—how many (if any) of these settings will carry over to them?

Data set and environment are both groupings of context at the technical level. However, technical scopes aren’t the only kind of context present. There’s also the context the user assumes when they encounter the dialog, which can very easily be incorrect (not necessarily because of a fault with the user).

The ramifications of getting privacy levels wrong are significant. It’s very important to correctly configure these levels. Understanding the various contexts applicable to each setting one key to getting these settings right. Let’s take a few minutes to articulate these contextual groupings so we have a better understanding of how these settings apply.

While we’re at it, we’ll bump into a data source that never shows up in this list—but which we should be cognizant of when thinking about privacy levels.

“Accesses a value by name in an embedded mashup”—documentation’s terse description of this function raises almost as many questions as it answers. Let’s try to clear up at least some of the puzzle around this function. While we’re at it, we’ll uncover some surprises—did you know this function breaks an M language rule and that it exposes something never otherwise seen (as far as I’m aware) by end-user mashups?