A process control system collects data, or status information, pertaining to assets of a process plant from various sources or functional areas of the plant. The collected information may then be accessed by a user through a user interface routine displaying a graphical user interface to that user's computer. An asset data and search expert tracks user interaction with plant data by, for example, tracking the types of search fields a user most frequently searches with or the type of information a user more frequently browses for. The expert automatically profiles this tracked information to develop user preferences that are later used in personalizing the reporting of asset data, personalizing searching for asset data, and personalizing the results of such searches.