Introduction to the BI Data Life-Cycle

Business activity generally runs in cycles. For example, in manufacturing there is a cycle that begins when raw materials are received into a factory. Those raw materials are processed to create finished goods, and the finished goods are shipped out to customers. The next batch of raw materials is received, and the cycle goes on. To be sure, this is simplifying things a lot. But the basic idea of a production cycle is sound. In a similar way, there is a sort of production cycle with business intelligence data. Here’s a very simple graphic representation of what I mean.


The middle two of the four components is where most business intelligence activity takes place, but all the components play a role in the cycle.

Next, we'll take a look at each of these components, beginning with Capture.