When you create and deploy an application patch, the impact that the patch has on the run-time application extends to the objects that you modify as well as any affected objects. If multiple users share the application, the patch might impact objects that other users maintain.
To understand how much impact a patch will have on the run-time application, you can perform the following tasks:
Preview the object impact. The object impact is a summary that describes how each application object will be impacted.
Identify the affected objects. Affected objects might be objects that belong to other users. You can identify affected objects to understand how other users' objects might change.
Review the scope of the patch. The scope is a numerical summary of how much many objects a patch will impact.