1. A method for providing data to a user interface for performance monitoring, the method comprising: acquiring, by a data definition acquiring module executing in a computer system, a data definition, wherein the data definition is generated in response to a definition of the user interface; acquiring, by a data acquiring module executing in the computer system, data from data sources based on the data definition; processing, by a data processing module executing in the computer system, the acquired data based on the data definition; caching, by a caching module executing in the computer system, the processed data in a cache, wherein the data definition specifies a frequency at which the data is acquired from the data sources and a manner of displaying the acquired data.