A configuration of an application program corresponding to a particular user of the local application is defined and stored on a remote server. In response to the user requesting the application program, a session is initiated between the local data processing system and the remote data processing system, and the user is authenticated. Responsive to the user authentication, data is downloaded from the remote server to the local data processing system according to the stored configuration. This stored configuration may be encrypted and stored in a manifest file which is decrypted to produce a decrypted configuration in response to the user authentication, and data may be downloaded from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system according to the decrypted configuration. The application program may be constructed pursuant to the configuration file or the decrypted configuration file.