XML Query Plan Logging
The WITH XMLPLAN option of the BEGIN QUERY LOGGING statement provides more detailed Optimizer query plan information than the INSERT EXPLAIN statement modifier. That plan information, structured and stored as an XML document, can be easily parsed and analyzed by those reading the log.
The XMLPLAN option does not log query plans for EXPLAIN request modifiers, DDL requests, or for the INSERT EXPLAIN and DUMP EXPLAIN statements.
Query plan logging has benefits: