An information gathering facility is provided which includes a dictionary file data structure having a plurality of inquiries for ascertaining state information on a computer system. The plurality of inquiries are organized into at least one subject group having multiple records of inquiry. These multiple records of inquiry are processed such that if a condition of one record is satisfied then processing terminates for the group, otherwise processing proceeds to a next record and continues until a condition of one of the records of the group is satisfied or until all records have been processed. One or more of the plurality of inquiries comprise instructions which output a result when a condition of the instruction is satisfied. Thus, the state information to be output is defined by the results contained within the instructions of the dictionary file itself.