A method for use with an information (or data) warehouse comprises managing the information warehouse with instructions in a declarative language. The instructions specify information warehouse-level tasks to be done without specifying certain details of how the tasks are to be implemented, for example, using databases and text indexers. The details are hidden from the user and include, for example, in an information warehouse having a FACT table that joins two or more dimension tables, details of database level operations when structured data are being handled, including database command line utilities, database drivers, and structured query language (SQL) statements; and details of text-indexing engines when unstructured data are being handled. The information warehouse is managed in a dynamic way in which different tasks—such as data loading tasks and information warehouse construction tasks—may be interleaved (i.e., there is no particular order in which the different tasks must be completed).