A data warehouse is a collection of data gathered and organized so that it can easily be analyzed, extracted, synthesized, and otherwise is used for the purposes of further understanding the data. It may be contrasted with data that is gathered to meet immediate business objectives such as order and payment transactions, although this data would also usually become part of a data warehouse.

An interactive process of analyzing and exploring structured, domain-specific information (often stored in a data warehouse) to discern trends or patterns, thereby deriving insights and drawing conclusions. The BI process includes communicating findings and effecting change. BI domains include customers, products, services or competitors.