Scan profiles are used to determine what information a particular scanner will collect. For instance, PDQ Inventory has scan profiles that collect installed applications, hot fixes, registry values, and more (see below).
Sometimes you need a quick scan, without waiting for all details to be collected. For instance, if you just deployed an application and you want PDQ Inventory to reflect the new install, create a scan profile that just scans for Applications and Computer Details. If you have hundreds (or thousands) of computers, you can reduce your scan time considerably.
Available scanners in PDQ Inventory
Active Directory
Applications
Computer Details
Disks
Displays
Environment Variables
Files
Hardware Devices
Hot Fixes
Memory Modules
Network Adapters
Printers
Registry
Services
Shares
Users & Groups
Windows Features
WMI
Shane walks you through this feature in the video below.