A method includes initiating a connection with a semiconductor manufacturing system. The method further includes generating a set of tool data items associated with the semiconductor manufacturing system. The method further includes providing a graphical user interface (GUI) presenting the set of tool data items associated with the semiconductor manufacturing system and receiving and via the GUI, user input selecting one or more of the tool data items. The method further includes adding configuration data associated with one or more of the tool data items to a data collection plan. The method further includes validating the configuration data by locating, in the manufacturing system, a configuration data file associated with the configuration data. The method further includes executing one or more data collection operations based on the data collection plan.