Advanced Scout was developed by IBM during the mid 1990's as a data mining and knowledge management tool.

Advanced Scout reveals hidden patterns in NBA play-by-play data and provide additional insights to coaches and other related organizations.

Advanced Scout not only collects in-game structured stats, but also unstructured multimedia footage. NBA teams have access to Advanced Scout, so that coaches and players can use this tool to prepare for upcoming opponents and study them using historical footage.

APBRmetrics takes its name from the acronym APBR, which stands for the Association for Professional Basketball Research.