The invention relates to a method and to a system for optimizing the operation of a plurality of field devices in an automation technology plant. The method comprises: ascertaining application information and device types of field devices, wherein the application information describes the application of the respective field device; classifying the application information and storing the classified application information; ascertaining parameter sets from each of the plurality of field devices, wherein the parameter sets comprise multiple parameters and each parameter is assigned a parameter value or a parameter value range, and each field device has at least one current parameter set and at least one standard parameter set, and storing the parameter sets; comparing the current parameter sets with the standard parameter sets to determine actually used parameters of a device type for an application; and operating the field device on the basis of the actually used parameters.