Methods and systems for providing distributed functionality to a plurality of clients comprise the use of more provider servers which publish function objects to clients upon request. Each function object corresponds to a function that is supported by the provider server or a connected downstream provider server. Group definition can also be published by the provider server. The client software is dynamically responsive to the functions which are available from the provider servers and permit a user of the client to select specific functions from the set of available functions for execution. Functions can be executed by modifying the function object to include specific parameter values and sending it to a provider server. Results of function evaluation can be returned in a further modified function object. In a particular implementation, the functions return financial information about specified financial securities and the client graphically displays the returned data.