Automatic distribution of schema changes, including method code changes, simplifies database administration. The system or a user may move the data from one site to another to improve data locality. Access to moved data remains transparent. This simplifies distributed application development. This is important for maintaining a database system with high availability in a networked workstation environment.
Authorized users can also add or remove partitions of the shared database at any time.
Dynamic schema modification can significantly reduce maintenance costs. It also is useful in environments where change to data definitions are normal or relatively frequent. It supports both positive and negative authorizations at any level in the class hierarchy. Authorization extends to classes, instances of classes, attributes, and methods. Also, inheritance of authorization reduces the work of database administration.