This study draws on organisational semiotics and design science methodology informed by abductive reasoning to develop a business intelligence (BI) architecture. Organisational semiotics research has so far paid limited attention to BI in general and its architecture in particular. Moreover, BI research in information systems (IS) focuses largely on either technical or social activities. Organisational semiotics offers frameworks and model which can be used to develop a BI architecture with combined technical and social views. This study therefore develops a BI architecture based on knowledge hierarchy, semiotic framework, and semiotic activity hierarchy. The paper uses a manufacturing company’s BI experience as a case study to inform and evaluate the proposed architecture. The study’s contribution stems from its development of the organisational semiotics informed BI architecture and its implications for research and practice.