Not only the services are reusable
Reusability is one of the driving forces of the development of IT methodologies, and as such, it is the central part of SOA strategy as well. – says Iván Péter Ertner, expert of Alerant Information Technology Inc. UDDI repositories are for ensuring reusability of services and for supporting reusability. However, these tools do not give support in case of those assets. which are associated with the services. Reusing such items (framework systems, models, interface specifications, etc.) represents an equally important step forward in an enterprise’s development culture as the creation of a service repository.
In addition to reusable products, such information (database accessibility, available training courses, etc.) is collected in a development project, which exists only in the heads of the different development teams or in ad-hoc documentation. Making these pieces of information centrally available and reusable is an extremely important task.

The importance of well-managed SOA application development – META repositories
AquaLogic Enterprise Repository product, which forms an organic part of BEA Systems AquaLogic infrastructure software package, is suitable for solving the above depicted problems. Through a Web platform, this tool enables the description, searching and assignment to projects of valuable information and assets that can be used during developments.
It manages as well as graphically displays dependencies between the individual assets, for instance when a framework includes a service.
Users can set subscriptions for the individual assets, in other words they receive a message in case the asset is modified. This is especially important in case of assets (e.g. interface library), when notification is also required on upgrades.
In the preparation phase of projects the user with adequate access rights assigns those assets to the project from among the ones residing in the repository, of which the usage may be helpful during execution, moreover he may prescribe their mandatory use. The project members themselves can also mark those assets, which they believe are useful either for themselves or for others during the life of the project. Markings are either permitted or refused by the users with appropriate rights to do so. As a result of these procedures, the enterprise’s information repository is also continually extended. Reports are also regularly generated on the content of the repository, on the basis of which it can be defined – among other things – what assets are frequently used, that is to say what assets are useful and also what are the assets that do not carry value for the enterprise.
It is possible to build the service repository without the META repository, but then the knowledge gained during the projects is beyond recovery.