A query that requests a filter attribute is received by a database server from a remote application server that is associated with a calculation scenario that defines a data flow model including one or more calculation nodes. Subsequently, the database server instantiates the calculation scenario. As part of the instantiation, the calculation scenario is optimized by (i) pushing down a filter attribute from a first node to a lowest available child node, (ii) removing the filter attribute from the first node, and (iii) removing non-required join-attributes from the instantiated calculation scenarios. Thereafter, the operations defined by the calculation nodes of the instantiated calculation scenario can be executed to result in a responsive data set. Next, the data set is provided to the application server by the database server.