A
process control system uses an asset data and search expert to collect data, or status information, pertaining to assets of a
process plant from various sources or functional areas of the
plant including. 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. The user may browse through status information on various assets, identifying them by device, unit, process, area,
alert status, health, performance, or other data types. The asset data and search expert tracks user interaction with such
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. The expert may also automatically identify asset data that correlates with other asset data to present correlated asset data when the primary asset data is selected for viewing.