- Employee Retirement Benefits (Details)	12 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2018 USD ($) contribution_plan	Jan. 31, 2017 USD ($) contribution_plan	Jan. 31, 2016 USD ($) contribution_plan
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Number of defined contribution plans \| contribution_plan	1	1	2
Defined contribution current payroll matching percentage	5.00%	4.00%	4.00%
Participant contribution rate for company stock, maximum	10.00%	10.00%	20.00%
Total contribution expense	$ 2,263,000	$ 2,030,000	$ 1,952,000
Other Postretirement Benefit Plan, Defined Benefit [Member]
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Amounts that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income in next fiscal year	(31,000)
Recognized net loss over next fiscal year	129,000
Amortization of prior service cost over next fiscal year	(160,000)
Expected postretirement medical and other benefit payments in fiscal 2017	313,000
Plan assets on unfunded plan	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Maximum
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Percentage of Participant balance transferred into Raven common stock	10.00%	10.00%	20.00%
Percentage of participant balance allowed in Raven Common stock	10.00%	10.00%	20.00%

Defined contribution current payroll matching percentage

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- Definition

Defined Contribution Plan, Number of Plans

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- Definition

Participant contribution rate for company stock, maximum

+ References

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- Definition

Percentage of Participant balance transferred into Raven common stock, Maximum. The maximum percentage of the paricipant's balance in the 401k plan that can be transferred to acquire Raven common stock.

+ References

No definition available.

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Percentage of participant balance allowed in Raven Common stock, Maximum. The maximum percentage of the participants balance in the Company's 401k plan that can be invested in Raven common stock.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of cost (credit) included in accumulated other comprehensive (income) loss expected to be recognized in net periodic benefit cost (credit) for fiscal year following most recent annual statement of financial position.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (s)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82843861&loc=d3e1928-114920

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- Definition

Amount included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) for gain (loss) of defined benefit plan expected to be recognized in net periodic benefit (cost) credit for fiscal year following most recent annual statement of financial position.

+ References

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Amount included in accumulated other comprehensive (income) loss for prior service cost (credit) expected to be recognized in net periodic benefit cost (credit) for fiscal year following most recent annual statement of financial position.

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- Definition

Amount of contributions expected to be received by defined benefit plan from employer in next fiscal year following latest fiscal year.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (g)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82843861&loc=d3e1928-114920

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- Definition

Fair value of assets that have been segregated and restricted to provide pension or postretirement benefits. Assets include, but are not limited to, stocks, bonds, other investments, earnings from investments, and contributions by the employer and employees.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82843861&loc=d3e1928-114920

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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- Definition

Amount of cost for defined contribution plan.

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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 70
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
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