Abstract: The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides system for data collection that provides a solution that can be easily extended to collect different data types. The preferred embodiment provides a collection repository that stores different collected data types with a single consistent interface for accessing the collected data. The preferred embodiment is a data collector implemented from an object-oriented framework. The object-oriented data collector can be easily extended by adding additional instances of the data collector from the framework. The preferred embodiment framework includes mechanisms for global customization of the collector and synchronization of the collection. The preferred embodiment also includes base probe classes that define the probes that perform the actual collection of the system data and store the data in a common collection repository. Subclasses are provided to implement the collection of different types of system data.