1. A method for use in a business intelligence application system having business data sources, content managers, and business intelligence application services, the method comprising the steps of: a) selecting a source environment where the business intelligence application system resides; b) selecting business intelligence application objects of the source environment to be exported together with the overriding options and any default values for the objects; c) creating in the source system an exchange definition that contains definitions of all actionable options and preferences selected in the previous step; d) saving the exchange definition in the file system of the source environment; e) extracting in the target system the exchange definition from the archive; f) processing in the target system the exchange definition of application objects according to previously selected overriding options; and g) creating objects in the content manager repository of the target system according to the definitions of application objects.