A system and method of engineering configuration data (ECD) collection for an industrial facility having a first control and instrumentation (C&I) system with first ECD using a first file format and a second C&I system with second ECD data using a second file format, and a data collection server. A first data agent has collection information regarding the first C&I system and a second data agent has collection information regarding the second C&I system. The first data agent collects the first ECD and the second data agent collects the second ECD. The first ECD and the second ECD are translated into one common generic data format. The first ECD and the second ECD are stored after being translated.