Patent ID: 7574460

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for storing a change to a record in a database in an entry in a journal and outputting the entry in the journal in human-readable form, the method comprising the steps of: generating the entry, the entry including all data from all fields in the record that changed, the entry including all data from any selected fields that are always to be journaled, wherein the selected fields are selected by a user by specifying a type, wherein all fields of the specified type are included in the selected fields, the entry excluding all data from all non-selected fields in the record that did not change; storing the entry in the journal; determining whether a default object corresponding to the entry is already stored in the journal, wherein the default object includes default data for each field in the object; if the default object corresponding to the entry is not already stored in the journal, storing the default object corresponding to the entry in the journal; outputting the entry in human-readable form by performing the steps of: reading the default object; reading the entry; overlaying the data from the entry onto the default object; outputting the overlaid object; and displaying the human-readable form of the overlaid object to a user, wherein data for all selected fields and all fields that changed are displayed to the user, and wherein the default data is represented as data that did not change in the display of the human-readable form.