> sounds like people are on this db heavily 24/7. Is this correct?

Not really. The problem is that the users may not be particularly technical
minded. I also do the admin remotely, without necessarily knowing their
configuration (networking, num computers, etc)

The idea is that they run our program and it all just works. It needs to
stop if they've run it at the wrong time - and should only affect the
database they have targetted, as any others may still be in use. The
database itself may or may not be connected and used heavily, however the
upgrade needs to know exactly where it stands before starting.

So, not really in the sense that it may or may not be heavily used, but yes
in the sense that it needs to appear to be available 24/7, like Word or
Excel... We don't have time to explain to the users that databases are
complex things.... It needs to just work... Hard for techs, like myself...