Patent attributes
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, generating a instruction set according to a data analytics collection strategy and identifying first and second network devices adapted to perform first and second types of network functions, respectively, within a communications network, wherein the first and second types of network functions are different. First and second collectors are instantiated in association with the first and second network devices, respectively, and the instruction set is provided to each of the first and second collectors. The first and second collectors are adapted to autonomously execute first and second segments of the instruction set according to the first and second types of network function to obtain first and second collection results, respectively, wherein network analytic functions are adapted to process the first and second collection results. Other embodiments are disclosed.