Business intelligence is the capacity to acquire and apply business knowledge, the act or state of knowing about your business, the understanding and profit from experience, and the internal development and sharing of information to create a competitive advantage. Multiple applications, databases, spreadsheets and platforms store and maintain the data needed for strategic decision-making. The combination of people, processes and technologies used to harvest this data and transform it into actionable information is called as business intelligence.

This sample guide provides auditors with a comprehensive breakdown of the meaning, importance and drivers of business intelligence.