Within the DB2 OLAP Starter Kit, your primary tool for creating OLAP applications is the DB2 OLAP Integration Server, which runs on top of the Essbase multidimensional server and DB2 Universal Database. With applications created with the DB2 OLAP Starter Kit, users can easily analyze DB2 data using Lotus® 1-2-3® or Microsoft Excel. The DB2 OLAP Starter kit offers both multidimensional and relational storage.

The DB2 OLAP Starter Kit provides rich OLAP capabilities for a limited number of users. If the tools and technologies in the DB2 OLAP Starter Kit suit your needs, you can move up to DB2 OLAP Server, which lets you scale up your OLAP applications and deliver them to your entire enterprise.

For query writing and reporting, DB2 Universal Database offers the Query Management Facility (QMF®), a tightly integrated tool set that offers extensive management and control over your enterprise query environment. DB2 Universal Database also works with, and shares metadata with, popular data-analysis and report-writing tools from IBM Business Partners such as Brio, Business Objects, and Cognos. More sophisticated analysis is available separately with IBM DB2 Intelligent Miner® for Data, the IBM data mining toolkit.