A method comprising: receiving input at a client interface of a client system linking a dimension of a first column of a first data set of a plurality of data sets comprising a first data structure with a corresponding dimension of a second column of a second data set of the plurality of data sets comprising a second data structure, each of the first data structure and the second data structure being a database table having a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows; applying a direct filter on the first data set to obtain a first filtered resulting data set specifying columns and rows resulting from applying the direct filter, wherein filtering criteria for the direct filter is configured to filter data elements of the first data set that are not included in the first column linking the first data set with the second data set; identifying data elements that are in rows of the first filtered resulting data set and that correspond to the dimension linking the first data set with the second data set; applying an indirect filter on the second data set to obtain a second filtered resulting data set specifying columns and rows resulting from applying the indirect filter, wherein filtering criteria for the indirect filter comprises the identified data elements in the rows of the first filtered resulting data set; generating a client request to perform a data blend operation on the first filtered resulting data set and the second filtered resulting data set; and communicating the client request to a server computer in communication with a database, wherein the server computer is configured to perform the data blend operation on the first filtered resulting data set and the second filtered resulting data set in response to the client request, wherein, in the data blend operation: the first column of the first data set and the second column of the second data set, linked to each other, are collapsed into a single column; and data values in the first column of the first data set and in the second column of the second data set are aggregated together, members for the single column being based on a designated join type which is left-outer join, full-outer join, intersect join or exception join, wherein the direct filter and the indirect filter are applied before the data blend operation is performed to specify which columns of the first data set and the second data set are to be displayed in a visualization at the client interface. receiving input at a client interface of a client system linking a dimension of a first column of a first data set of a plurality of data sets comprising a first data structure with a corresponding dimension of a second column of a second data set of the plurality of data sets comprising a second data structure, each of the first data structure and the second data structure being a database table having a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows; applying a direct filter on the first data set to obtain a first filtered resulting data set specifying columns and rows resulting from applying the direct filter, wherein filtering criteria for the direct filter is configured to filter data elements of the first data set that are not included in the first column linking the first data set with the second data set; identifying data elements that are in rows of the first filtered resulting data set and that correspond to the dimension linking the first data set with the second data set; applying an indirect filter on the second data set to obtain a second filtered resulting data set specifying columns and rows resulting from applying the indirect filter, wherein filtering criteria for the indirect filter comprises the identified data elements in the rows of the first filtered resulting data set; generating a client request to perform a data blend operation on the first filtered resulting data set and the second filtered resulting data set; and communicating the client request to a server computer in communication with a database, wherein the server computer is configured to perform the data blend operation on the first filtered resulting data set and the second filtered resulting data set in response to the client request, wherein, in the data blend operation: the first column of the first data set and the second column of the second data set, linked to each other, are collapsed into a single column; and data values in the first column of the first data set and in the second column of the second data set are aggregated together, members for the single column being based on a designated join type which is left-outer join, full-outer join, intersect join or exception join, the first column of the first data set and the second column of the second data set, linked to each other, are collapsed into a single column; and data values in the first column of the first data set and in the second column of the second data set are aggregated together, members for the single column being based on a designated join type which is left-outer join, full-outer join, intersect join or exception join, wherein the direct filter and the indirect filter are applied before the data blend operation is performed to specify which columns of the first data set and the second data set are to be displayed in a visualization at the client interface.