This article presents the subject of using information resources such as economic data and data from text documents in computer-aided business management. It is demonstrated that to make effective use of specified information resources, it is necessary to go into the contents of documents and the meaning of data, and not just to collect, process and subject them to simple analyses, e.g. statistical ones. After a literature-based review of methods used for this purpose, authors propose applying methods of semantic analysis and reasoning. Such methods, originally proposed for the automatic understanding of medical images and developed with a view to this use for a number of years, may lead to the development of UBMSS cognitive management-support systems. A general description of such a system is presented and discussed in this article.