6. In a general purpose computer, a method for automatically testing a business intelligence artifact generated by computer software loaded on and being executed by the general purpose computer, the method comprising: receiving business metric data from a business intelligence system, the business metric data corresponding to information related to the operation of a business; creating a business intelligence artifact based upon the business metric data obtained from the business intelligence system, wherein the business intelligence artifact is selected from the group consisting of: a report specification, an analysis cube, and a metadata model; creating at least one test case to test the business intelligence artifact, the at least one test case including at least one assertion requirement to verify the proper functioning of the business intelligence artifact after the business intelligence artifact is executed to generate an output populated with information related to the business metric data; automatically recording current and previous versions of the business intelligence artifact at a first interval with a source control system; testing, with an automated agent that is interfaced with the business intelligence system, the business intelligence artifact for errors resulting from the assertion requirement, the testing done at a second interval by executing the current version of the business intelligence artifact and determining whether the output generated by the current version of the business intelligence artifact satisfies all constraints of the at least one assertion requirement after execution of the business intelligence artifact; and if errors are detected during the testing, correcting the errors to create a subsequent version of the business intelligence artifact.
6. In a general purpose computer, a method for automatically testing a business intelligence artifact generated by computer software loaded on and being executed by the general purpose computer, the method comprising: receiving business metric data from a business intelligence system, the business metric data corresponding to information related to the operation of a business; creating a business intelligence artifact based upon the business metric data obtained from the business intelligence system, wherein the business intelligence artifact is selected from the group consisting of: a report specification, an analysis cube, and a metadata model; creating at least one test case to test the business intelligence artifact, the at least one test case including at least one assertion requirement to verify the proper functioning of the business intelligence artifact after the business intelligence artifact is executed to generate an output populated with information related to the business metric data; automatically recording current and previous versions of the business intelligence artifact at a first interval with a source control system; testing, with an automated agent that is interfaced with the business intelligence system, the business intelligence artifact for errors resulting from the assertion requirement, the testing done at a second interval by executing the current version of the business intelligence artifact and determining whether the output generated by the current version of the business intelligence artifact satisfies all constraints of the at least one assertion requirement after execution of the business intelligence artifact; and if errors are detected during the testing, correcting the errors to create a subsequent version of the business intelligence artifact. 12. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one assertion comprises a characteristic related to an execution time of the business intelligence artifact.