A method and system to process a data search request. The system includes a query controller module to receive the data search request that includes constraints; a reduced constraint builder module to formulate a plurality of search definitions that are formulated to exclude at least one constraint; and a search engine to perform searches of a data source to generate search results and to utilize the search results to calculate counts of data items that respectively correspond to the search definitions. The query controller module communicates the counts of data items and the corresponding search definitions to a client machine. Each of the search definitions is formulated to include a constraint set.