The present invention provides apparatus and methods for managing the display of data stored in a SMBIOS database. The apparatus and methods provide a template file intermediate between a SMBIOS utility program and a SMBIOS database. The template file includes all information required for interpreting and displaying the data structures stored in the SMBIOS database. The information in the template file is in the form of structure definitions including descriptor keys for describing the structure of the data and text to be displayed and control keys used by the utility program to navigate the template file. In operation, when commanded, the utility program retrieves data from the SMBIOS database, and using the Type and offset associated with the data, accesses information corresponding to Type and offset from the template file. Using the information from the template file, the utility program properly interprets and the displays to a user the requested information.