1. A system for generating an incrementally completed security mark, comprising a computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program having: computer readable code for selecting a carrier object; computer readable code for determining available carrier object candidate areas to which to write information at each step in a multi-step workflow during which the carrier object is passed from one participant to an other participant; and computer readable code for determining a number of bits to be input at each step in the multi-step workflow based upon the available candidate areas; and wherein the system further includes memory and a processor operatively coupled to the memory and to the computer-readable medium.