Our application uses database (mostly Oracle), and database is at the core. Each customer has its own database, with its own copy of application. Now with each new release of our product, we also need to update the database schema. These changes are adding new tables, removing columns, manipulating data etc. How do the people handle this? Are there any standard processes for this? EDIT:- The main issue is the databases are huge with many tables and more of huge amount of data. We provide the scripts and some utilities to manipulate the data. How to handle the failures and false negatives? More of looking for this kind articles. http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Database-Changes-Done-Right.aspx