Abstract: The invention relates to a system and method for indicating when changes to values of data fields in a document have occurred. In one embodiment of the invention, two objects are created upon the loading of an HTML form on an HTML page in a web browser. One object stores the initial values of the data in the HTML form, while the other object is subsequently updated so that the current values of the data in the HTML form are stored therein. When the data in the HTML form is submitted to a server, the data in the two objects are compared to determine which data fields of the HTML form are “dirty”; i.e., which data fields have current values different from their initial values. A record identifying which data fields are “dirty” is created and is submitted to the server along with the data in the HTML page.