At a minimum, I need a tool that will allow top users to write their own reports. I don't need all the online performance and management savings if I'm going to spend time writing reports for the archive databases. Since the reports are on archived data, I probably don't require a product that will print out fancy reports. Users are interested only in the data at this point. More advanced tools like QUIZ from Cognos will suffice in a pinch.
Most advanced users can learn a basic report scripting language.
Not fancy, but functional. This sounds simple but can be a little tricky. Two items are often forgotten when compressing archive databases. For each item selected in Step 2, determine the precise internal and external format. If I don't already have the archive database, I create it.