A method is described that involves offering a user different persistent scope choices including: a) internal to a computing system that the deployment descriptor is to be sent to; and, b) external to the computing system that the deployment descriptor is to be sent to. The method also involves offering a user different persistence frequency choices including: a) persisting per request; and, b) persisting per session state information attribute change. The method also involves generating a deployment descriptor that reflects the user's choice of the persistence scope and persistence frequency.