In accordance with an embodiment, described herein are systems and methods that enable client-side calculation with data provided at a multidimensional or other database server. Data provided at the server in accordance with a server-side model, can be transformed/prepared into a grid, for use with a client-side application, for example a client spreadsheet application. During preparation of the grid, one or more portions of the grid that are identified as client-side dynamic parameters, can be represented as dynamic formulas that are modifiable within the client-side application; while parameters of the server-side model that are outside of the grid can be represented as constant values. The grid provided to the client can be used to perform client-side calculations that allow for rapid calculations in response to changes in the client-side model, without introducing a round-trip performance lag between the client-side and server-side.