1. In a system comprising a local processing device having a processor, a memory for maintaining a local document, a transmission link to a remote processing device, and a remote processing device having a processor and storage within which a remote document is maintained, a method for updating at least a portion of data elements of said remote document in accordance with mutations made to a local document comprising the steps of: loading at least a portion of the structure of said remote document into a local processing device as an XML document; creating a logical document object model (DOM) having a plurality of nodes arranged in a logical hierarchical structure such that each said node corresponds to an XML tag and data element in said XML document; mutating said XML document by adding, deleting, or modifying one or more of said data elements; updating said DOM to conform to said mutations to said XML document; creating an entry in a first event table corresponding to each said mutation to said XML document, each said entry comprising at least a path to a node in said DOM affected by said mutation and an event type; processing said first event table to create a second event table that will contain the smallest number of mutation events necessary to update said remote document such that, following the updating of said remote document, mutated data elements in said modified XML document will have corresponding data elements of the same value in said remote document; transmitting said second event table and related data from said local device to said remote device; and mutating said remote document in accordance with events in said second event table and related data such that said remote document will have corresponding data elements of the same value as mutated data elements in said modified XML document.