An ODA driver communicates between a data source and an application. An ODA driver establishes a connection to a data source, accesses metadata about the data, and executes queries on the data source. In Actuate BIRT technology, ODA drivers are plug-in extensions to the Eclipse Data Tools Platform project. BIRT iHub System and the Information Object Design perspective can use ODA drivers implemented as an Eclipse plug‑in to the Data Tools Platform project.