What is IDARS?

IDARS is a definition coined by Gartner Group and used to describe a group of software applications that are designed to make documents available online to users within and outside an organisation.

Originally, IDARS was utilised to make mainframe reports available across an organisation. Companies recognised that huge amounts of money were being spent printing reports. Often, huge reports hundreds and sometimes thousands of pages long were being printed and being printed again. Often this was in order that a worker could view one or a few pages and after this, the report is discarded. Every time reports are run, there is a big load on the software application that produces them. This could slow down the system and cause problems around month end because of the slow speed.

Rather than do this, the document is simpy printed to file, held in a compressed repository and then made available to users with authority to access the reports. By being able to seek out information on screen huge savings in productivity and print were achieved.

By implementing this technology in a UK bank, who were experiencing print costs of £0.12 per page we achieved annual savings of over£5m p.a against a spend of £200k. Impressive results.

The use of IDARS applications has now expanded and many document types are supported within the system. The use of IDARS technology helps to drive down paper usage and improves productivity.

Relatively simple to implement, it is in my view a ‘no-brainer’ for any organisation producing large amounts of paper.

Document Management Consultancy. See site for contact information.