Condensed Consolidated Statement of Shareholders' Equity (Unaudited) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	Total	Common Stock [Member]	Additional Paid-in Capital [Member]	Retained Earnings [Member]	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Loss [Member]	Total Compuware Shareholders' Equity [Member]	Non-controlling Interest [Member]	Total Shareholders' Equity [Member]
BALANCE at Mar. 31, 2012		$ 2,175	$ 685,904	$ 372,408	$ (10,550)	$ 1,049,937		$ 1,049,937
BALANCE (in shares) at Mar. 31, 2012		217,506,319
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net income	21,062			21,062		21,062		21,062
Foreign currency translation, net of tax					(5,916)	(5,916)		(5,916)
Issuance of common stock		2	1,458			1,460		1,460
Issuance of common stock (in shares)		163,579
Repurchase of common stock		(50)	(16,175)	(30,822)		(47,047)		(47,047)
Repurchase of common stock (in shares)		(5,059,362)
Exercise/release of employee stock awards and related tax benefit (Note 6)			7,190			7,190		7,190
Exercise/release of employee stock awards and related tax benefit (Note 6) (in shares)		2,149,275
Stock awards compensation		21	15,179			15,200		15,200
BALANCE at Sep. 30, 2012		2,148	693,556	362,648	(16,466)	1,041,886	0	1,041,886
BALANCE (in shares) at Sep. 30, 2012		214,759,811
BALANCE at Mar. 31, 2013	998,226	2,132	713,580	301,298	(18,784)	998,226	0	998,226
BALANCE (in shares) at Mar. 31, 2013		213,218,048
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net income	25,153			26,307		26,307	(1,154)	25,153
Foreign currency translation, net of tax					11,245	11,245		11,245
Dividends			796	(54,425)		(53,629)		(53,629)
Dividends (in shares)		8,949
Sale of subsidiary shares to non-controlling interest			44,059			44,059	22,263	66,322
Issuance of common stock		1	1,301			1,302		1,302
Issuance of common stock (in shares)		124,096
Repurchase of common stock		(5)	(1,792)	(4,243)		(6,040)		(6,040)
Repurchase of common stock (in shares)		(300,000)
Exercise/release of employee stock awards and related tax benefit (Note 6)		29	16,391			16,420		16,420
Exercise/release of employee stock awards and related tax benefit (Note 6) (in shares)		2,656,127
Stock awards compensation			25,312			25,312		25,312
BALANCE at Sep. 30, 2013	$ 1,084,311	$ 2,157	$ 799,647	$ 268,937	$ (7,539)	$ 1,063,202	$ 21,109	$ 1,084,311
BALANCE (in shares) at Sep. 30, 2013		215,707,220