A system and process for managing data collection processes is disclosed. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure can include, a data collection system having a controller element that assigns to each of the processes a query interval according to a priority level of the data collection process for requesting use of processing resources, receiving one or more requests from the processes, once per respective query interval, for use of at least a portion of available processing resources, releases at least a portion of the available processing resources to a requesting one of the processes when the use of the available processing resources exceeds a utilization threshold. Additional embodiments are disclosed.