The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate XML data communications and processing. A diffgram data structure is provided that includes one or more states of a plurality of data records. The state information can be determined by examining one or more data sources for differences from one or more reference data sources. If differences are detected between the data sources, the diffgram can be constructed in an XML compatible format with both previous state indications and current state indications that describes the state differences between the data sources. Error information and/or other administrative information or codes can also be provided to facilitate database management and/or processing.