BATS is an incident-based reporting system that serves as the nation's repository for explosives & arson related incidents as authorized by the Federal Explosives Laws and the Attorney General. It was developed to facilitate and promote the collection, sharing and diffusion of intelligence information concerning crimes involving explosives and fires. While ATF and the USBDC maintain the web-based BATS system, each agency is responsible for administering their account. BATS provides bomb squads and fire investigation units with technology to manage and track their day-to-day incident responses and related activities. Incident details are directly entered by local, state & federal bomb technicians, bomb investigators, and fire investigators using a standardized lexicon unique to IEDs and fire investigations. This information can be searched in real-time and is essential to the identification of a particular style of an IED that may be associated with a known bomb maker (i.e., signature) or in identifying a particular M.O (e.g., serial-type cases).

BATS includes a case management functionality that allows users to build their investigation while maintaining operational security. BATS users can also collaborate with other agencies to include fusion centers in a virtual "task force" setting, which is ideal for multi-jurisdictional investigations or special events. Case data in BATS is designated as law enforcement sensitive and restricted from the public. Direct entry by law enforcement and public safety users enhances the quantity, accuracy, and timeliness of the information leading to a more meaningful analysis as opposed to summary data. The structured data fields in BATS ensure the use of standardized language and also simplifies the process of data mining for analysis, statistics, and management reports as opposed to data in "narrative" format which cannot be reused for other computational purposes.

TRIPwire (Technical Resource for Incident Prevention) is an internet-based information-sharing network administered by the DHS. It is not for reporting incident details involving explosives and/or fire but provides information on international terrorist bombings, relevant news, and threat alerts to assist homeland security professionals with bombing awareness and prevention. Information is gathered from open-source publications, as well as government issued threat bulletins and advisories. BATS users can link to TRIPwire as well as other useful websites such as LEO by clicking the "Useful Links" tab within BATS.

LEO (Law Enforcement Online) is an internet-based communications portal administered by the FBI. It is not a records management system (RMS) and includes a national alert system, special interest groups, access to databases like those run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, email services, a virtual command center, distance learning, and a multimedia library of publications, documents, studies, research, technical bulletins, and other reports. BATS users can link to LEO as well as other useful websites such as TRIPwire and more by clicking the "Useful Links" tab within BATS.

N-DEx (National Data Exchange) allows participating law enforcement agencies to submit their incident data to a central repository maintained by the FBI where they are compared against incidents that other agencies have uploaded. N-DEx is not a records management system (RMS) or statistical reporting system. It can be accessed through LEO and the information is as current as the data submitted and /or updated by participating agencies. (See also section on "exporting BATS data").