The disclosed embodiments provide a system that processes data received from a remote system. During operation, the system sends, from a computer system to a remote system, a request for a local time at the remote system and records a time of transmission of the request. Next, the system obtains, from the remote system, a response to the request, wherein the response includes the local time of the remote system. The system then computes a difference between the time of transmission and the local time of the remote system to determine a time offset that accounts for a time difference between the computer system and the remote system. Finally, the system uses the time offset to standardize timestamps in time-series data received from the remote system, wherein standardizing the timestamps associated with the time-series data comprises adjusting the timestamps to conform to a time standard.