This paper addresses the question of the observations to be performed with
the Optical Monitor (OM) of the X-ray Multi-Mirror Satellite (XMM) under se
veral aspects, First, we discuss XMM-OM's photometric system and its colour
transformations towards the standard UBV system. Second, we establish a se
t of procedures to determine the temperature and the amount of interstellar
absorption affecting the observed stars, Last, we address the possibility
of isolating quasars in multidimensional colour diagrams based on the XMM-O
M filter set.