An APAR (Authorized Program Analysis Report)[1] (pronounced A-PAR, rhymes with far) is an IBM designation of a document intended to identify situations that could result in potential problems.
It also serves as a request for the correction of a defect in current releases of IBM-supplied programs.
Once it has been ascertained that the situation has not been caused by problems in third-party hardware or software or the user's configuration errors, IBM support staff, if they suspect that a defect in a current release of an IBM program is the cause, will file a formal report confirming the existence of an issue.
In addition to confirming the existence of an issue, APARs include information on known workarounds, information on whether a formal fix is scheduled to be included in future releases, and whether or not a Program Temporary Fix (PTF) is planned.
[9] SIR (System Improvement Request) is a terminology that Digital Equipment Corporation used, much as Xerox used SIDR.