ODBO is the standard application programming interface (API) for exchanging metadata and data between an OLAP server and a client on a Windows platform.
ODBO extends the ability of OLE DB to access multi-dimensional (OLAP) data stores.
[citation needed] ODBO permits independent software vendors (ISVs) and corporate developers to create a single set of standard interfaces that allow OLAP clients to access multi-dimensional data, regardless of vendor or data source.
[citation needed] When exposing the ODBO interface, the underlying multi-dimensional database must also support the MDX Query Language.
XML for Analysis is a newer interface to MDX Data Sources that is often supported in parallel with ODBO.