Answer
Start with audience and control. Some teams need governed finance or operations reporting, while others need ad hoc query, drill-down, export flexibility, scheduled distribution, or dashboard delivery. The strongest evaluation checks whether the reporting layer fits real users without exposing Db2 for i data too loosely.
Buyers should compare security boundaries, scheduling, output formats, and how quickly people can get from summary numbers to source detail. A reporting tool is only useful if it improves decision speed without creating another spreadsheet detour.