Described herein are methods and systems for preparing to efficiently distribute data to be extracted from a data store to clients and for distributing such prepared data to the clients. The methods and system have particular utility in the context of a network monitoring system which captures and stores network event data and makes the event data available to clients according to any desired view or summary. One method for preparing the data involves storing as primary requests one or more client requests for data to be extracted from the event database. Additional client requests for event are each compared to the stored primary requests to determine whether each additional request matches a stored primary request in accordance with a given criterion, such as a filter or summary formula. If the additional request matches a stored primary request, the additional client request is associated with the matching primary request. If the additional request does not match a stored primary request, the additional request is stored as a new primary request. As a result of this method, client requests which match one another can be processed at once and distributed to all clients registering the request.