Implementation of data mining applications is a challenging and complicated task, and the applications are often built from scratch. In this paper, a component-based application framework, called Smart Archive (SA) designed for implementing data mining applications, is presented. SA provides functionality common to most data mining applications and components for utilizing history information. Using SA, it is possible to build high-quality applications with shorter development times by configuring the framework to process application-specific data. The architecture, the components, the implementation and the design principles of the framework are presented. The advantages of a framework-based implementation are demonstrated by presenting a case study which compares the framework approach to implementing a real-world application with the option of building an equivalent application from scratch. In conclusion, the paper presents a lucid framework for creating data mining applications and illustrates the importance and advantages of using the presented approach.