Debt (Details 2) (USD $)	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Jan. 31, 2009 Interest rate swap	Dec. 31, 2012 Interest rate swap	Dec. 31, 2011 Interest rate swap	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Interest rate swap	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Interest rate swap	Dec. 31, 2012 Accounts receivable securitization program	Dec. 31, 2011 Accounts receivable securitization program	Dec. 31, 2010 Accounts receivable securitization program	Oct. 31, 2010 Related party credit agreements Boston Financial Data Services, Inc. D	Dec. 31, 2012 Related party credit agreements Boston Financial Data Services, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2011 Related party credit agreements Boston Financial Data Services, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2010 Related party credit agreements Boston Financial Data Services, Inc.	Oct. 27, 2010 Related party credit agreements Boston Financial Data Services, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2012 Related party credit agreements Output U.K. International Financial Data Services, U.K.	Dec. 31, 2011 Related party credit agreements Output U.K. International Financial Data Services, U.K.	Dec. 31, 2011 Other indebtedness	Dec. 31, 2012 Other indebtedness Output U.K.	Dec. 31, 2011 Other indebtedness Output U.K.	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured promissory notes	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured promissory notes Output U.K.	Dec. 31, 2011 Secured promissory notes Output U.K.	Jul. 31, 2011 Secured promissory notes Output U.K.	Dec. 31, 2012 Real estate notes	Dec. 31, 2012 Equipment notes	Dec. 31, 2012 New equipment credit facility	Dec. 31, 2011 New equipment credit facility	Dec. 31, 2012 Prior equipment credit facility Y	Dec. 31, 2011 Prior equipment credit facility	Jun. 30, 2011 Prior equipment credit facility	Jun. 30, 2010 Prior equipment credit facility	Nov. 30, 2008 Real estate credit agreement Y	Sep. 30, 2008 Real estate credit agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 Real estate credit agreement Y	Jan. 02, 2010 Real estate credit agreement Interest rate swap	Dec. 31, 2012 Term Loan Credit Facility	Oct. 31, 2011 Term Loan Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2009 Series C convertible senior debentures	Dec. 31, 2012 Series C convertible senior debentures M D	Dec. 31, 2011 Series C convertible senior debentures	Dec. 31, 2010 Series C convertible senior debentures	Dec. 31, 2012 Series C convertible senior debentures Minimum D	Dec. 31, 2012 Series C convertible senior debentures Maximum D	Dec. 31, 2012 Amended revolving credit facilities	Dec. 31, 2011 Amended revolving credit facilities	Apr. 16, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities	Apr. 30, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities Minimum	Apr. 16, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities Minimum LIBOR	Apr. 16, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities Minimum Base rate	Apr. 30, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities Maximum	Apr. 16, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities Maximum LIBOR	Apr. 16, 2010 Amended revolving credit facilities Maximum Base rate	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiary's unsecured line of credit agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 Foreign subsidiaries revolving line of credit agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured revolving line of credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Foreign subsidiary's overdraft credit facility	Aug. 31, 2010 Senior notes	Aug. 31, 2010 4.19% Series A Senior Notes due August 9, 2015	Aug. 09, 2010 4.19% Series A Senior Notes due August 9, 2015	Aug. 31, 2010 4.86% Series B Senior Notes due August 9, 2017	Aug. 09, 2010 4.86% Series B Senior Notes due August 9, 2017	Aug. 31, 2010 5.06% Series C Senior Notes due August 9, 2018	Aug. 09, 2010 5.06% Series C Senior Notes due August 9, 2018	Aug. 31, 2010 5.42% Series D Senior Notes due August 9, 2020	Aug. 09, 2010 5.42% Series D Senior Notes due August 9, 2020
Entity's debt and other obligations
Maximum borrowing capacity								$ 150,000,000							$ 140,000,000																$ 50,000,000	$ 50,000,000			$ 120,000,000			$ 125,000,000									$ 630,000,000							$ 50,000,000	$ 5,000,000	$ 10,000,000	$ 8,100,000
Outstanding amount under the accounts receivable securitization program								135,000,000	135,000,000
Increase in accounts receivable	10,000,000	125,000,000								(125,000,000)
Increase in the current portion of debt associated with the program										125,000,000
Proceeds from the accounts receivable securitization program								917,400,000	924,100,000	915,400,000
Payments in respect of accounts receivable securitization program								917,400,000	914,100,000	915,400,000
Aggregate transfers of undivided interests in the receivables from the SPE to the conduit								1,665,700,000	1,720,200,000
Debt variable rate basis								LIBOR			LIBOR																LIBOR								LIBOR		LIBOR or prime rate								LIBOR, Federal Funds or prime rates									LIBOR	Base rate	LIBOR	Base rate
Amount outstanding												7,900,000	10,500,000									7,900,000	8,300,000		13,800,000	700,000														90,100,000	86,500,000	94,100,000												30,000,000
Face amount of debt																								9,300,000
Interest rate, minimum (as a percent)																					4.50%
Interest rate, maximum (as a percent)																					6.00%
Maturity period for each loan drawn under credit facility (in years)																													3
Amount outstanding under credit facility												107,000,000	140,000,000				6,200,000			21,000,000							11,600,000	8,200,000	400,000	1,800,000															1,100,000	328,300,000
Debt term (in years)																																			5
Borrowings on line of credit																																		115,000,000
Basis spread on variable rate (as a percent)																3.00%																			1.75%	1.75%													1.10%	0.10%		2.10%	1.10%	1.40%	0.25%		1.50%
Amortization schedule (in years)																																	20
Prepayment amount as a percentage of allocated amount of property as set forth in the credit agreement																																	125.00%
Fixed interest rate on debt with interest rate swap, including 1.75% applicable margin rate (as a percent)																																				4.49%
Reference rate				one-month LIBOR
Derivative fixed interest rate (as a percent)				2.74%
Dollar offset ratio						0.80	1.25
Cumulative dollar offset ratio			1.00
Fair value of liability				2,300,000	4,300,000
Issuance of debt																																							257,000,000																			370,000,000	40,000,000		105,000,000		65,000,000		160,000,000
Interest rate on debt (as a percent)																																									4.125%																			4.19%		4.86%		5.06%		5.42%
Repurchase of debt																																									11,400,000
Net loss on repurchase of debt	1,200,000	6,400,000																																							1,200,000
Full accreted principal amount payable at maturity for each $1,000 original principal amount of debentures																																								1,700
Original principal amount of debentures used for accreted principal amount payable																																								1,000
Contingent interest payable period (in months)																																								6
Trading-day reference period used to determine payment of contingent interest (in days)																																								5
Minimum percentage of average trading price																																								120.00%
Period of notice provided by the entity before redemption date (in days)																																											30	60
Conversion rate, number of shares to be issued per $1000 of principal amount																																								20.3732
Principal amount used for debt instrument conversion ratio																																								1,000
Initial conversion price of convertible notes into common stock (in dollars per share)																																								$ 49.08
Number of trading-days within 30 consecutive trading days in which the closing price of the entity's common stock must exceed the conversion price for the notes to be redeemable (in days)																																								20
Number of consecutive trading days during which the closing price of the entity's common stock must exceed the conversion price for at least 20 days in order for the notes to be redeemable (in days)																																								30
Percentage of the closing sales price of the entity's common stock that the conversion price must exceed in order for the notes to be convertible																																								120.00%
Number of consecutive business days immediately after any five consecutive trading-day period during the note measurement period																																								5
Number of consecutive trading-days before five consecutive business days during the note measurement period																																								5
Percentage of the trading price to the product of the last reported sale price of the entity's common stock and the conversion rate, maximum																																								95.00%
Annual facility fee (as a percent)																																																0.15%			0.40%
Amount of prior credit facility transferred to new credit facility																																															443,400,000
Commitment fee (as a percentage)																																																						0.25%
Prepayment as a percentage of aggregate principal amount outstanding, minimum																																																										10.00%
Price at which the debt instrument may be prepaid, expressed as a percentage of the principal amount																																																										100.00%
Minimum amount of indebtedness of subsidiary in which guarantee of Company's obligations under the Senior Notes is required																																																										100,000,000
Period of notice provided for demand of prepayment of the loan (in days)											10
Maximum amount of prepayment of loan in each instance											25,000,000
Interest expense												2,500,000	2,700,000	2,000,000
Proceeds from loan																			143,000,000	234,500,000
Repayments for loan																			$ 164,300,000	$ 238,900,000
Fixed interest rate (as a percent)																		5.60%