According to certain embodiments, a method (400) by an Operations, Administration, and Management (OAM) system (210) is provided for configuring a network node (115) to prioritize the collection of data. A configuration (250) for collecting performance management (PM data) is transmitted to the network node. The configuration (250) includes PM counters and priority information associated with at least one of the PM counters. Each PM counter is associated with a parameter to be measured by the network node (115). A report of data collected by the network node (115) is received. The report includes data collected based on the configuration transmitted by the OAM system (210) to the network node (115).