The picture archiving and communication system (PACS) substantially optimizes a post-scanning command process in accordance with a user-specified priority for further processing a selected set of imaging data that has been collected by medical imaging devices such as a CT scanner and a MRI scanner and stored in distributed storage units on the network. The user-specified priority includes the least response time, the least costs and the least network traffic. The user-specified priority is optionally fixed in some preferred embodiments.