A computer-implemented method of executing a user query includes presenting a user interface to allow a user to enter a query, receiving a user-entered textual request through the interface, launching a search service to rewrite the textual request into a search query, sending the search query to a presentation server, receiving an answer to the query, and returning the answer to the user as a graphical representation. A computer-implemented method includes receiving a crawl request from a user, launching a crawl manager to monitor the crawl request and track statistics related to the crawl, starting a crawl task based upon the crawl request, indexing a business intelligence presentation server to create a data index, and storing the data index.