A tracer object for tracing a user or process in a data processing system is provided. An application receives a tracer key containing a request for information to be traced. The received tracer key is checked against all tracer keys that the application has stored. If a match between two tracer keys is found, the stored tracer key maps the tracer key containing the request to the stored tracer key's associated tracer object and applies the conditions and modifiers contained in the tracer key containing the request to the tracer object. The tracer object then gathers the required information as requested.