Systems and methods that enable relationship information to be carried along with data objects when serializing/deserializing data objects among application tiers. A tracking component tracks information on relationships associated with a data object, and further enables subsequent change processing on the data object's relationship information. Accordingly, relationship information can be carried along with the data object, such that database operation can be performed without requirement of additional information from the database (e.g., foreign key information that is part of associated graphs).