We are looking into the possibility of licensing the Partitioning option. My understanding of partitioning is that it only helps when the optimizer can eliminate partitions. Doesn't that mean that it is primarily of benefit when accessing the tables via full table scans? In that case, the optimizer could eliminate partitions from scanning. If, however, you are accessing the data via an index\, would there be any benefit? Is my understanding of this correct? Jeffrey Beckstrom Database Administrator Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Information Systems 1240 W. 6th Street Cleveland, Ohio 44113 . -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l