Database schema changes are managed in a database management system by identifying and marking one or more database objects for a database schema change, identifying and processing accesses to identified database objects and storing information pertaining to the identified accesses, where the identified accesses are processed with respect to the database schema without the change, evaluating the stored information to determine a frequency with which identified objects are referenced by the identified accesses over a select time period, and implementing the database schema change in response to an indication that the frequency is below a threshold value.