1. A method, comprising: receiving a request from a user for an inventory of objects a specified data storage location of a network environment; requesting the inventory of objects; receiving first sets of metadata elements representing the inventory of objects in the specified data storage location; generating a first summary of the inventory of objects, wherein the first summary includes dimension groups corresponding to respective dimensions that represent respective types of metadata, wherein the dimensions are in a hierarchical arrangement, and wherein each metadata element of each first set corresponds to one of the dimension groups; presenting, on a display screen of a computer, an inventory view of the inventory objects, the inventory view including the first summary of the inventory objects; receiving a request from the user to manipulate the inventory view based on a first selected dimension group; responsive to the request to manipulate the inventory view, generating a second summary of a first subset of the inventory of objects, wherein the first subset is defined by a hierarchical path in the hierarchical arrangement of dimensions, and wherein one level of the hierarchical path corresponds to a single metadata element of the first selected dimension group; and presenting, on the display screen, a manipulated inventory view including the second summary of the first subset of the inventory objects.