Abstract: In order to improve the transfer of studies to a viewing application through a network, a cloud-based system is provided that optimizes the performance of imaging workflows. A client side application receives requests from an image viewing application. If the study is stored locally, the study including objects, are provided to the viewing application locally. Otherwise, the request is provided to the cloud-based system. The cloud-based system may include two processing components, an aggregator, and a retriever. The aggregator may collect the metadata about the study and may provide the metadata to the viewing application. The aggregator receives request for objects (e.g. images) from the viewing application and may priority the retrieval and processing of the requests based on information about the object such as its type, importance, and the metadata associated with the study.