The following is a basic step-by-step guide of how companies use a Web services registry such as Infravio X-Registry for their SOA.

1. Architects, in consultation with business users, populate the registry with abstract service specifications relevant to the business, called technical models, or tModels. tModels are registered and are assigned a unique identity called a UUID.

2. Business users, with the help of registry operators, populate the registry with information about the organization and its units. Each entry also receives a UUID.

3. Developers, in consultation with business users, populate the registry with services and classify them according to the tModels and to industry and organizational taxonomies.

4. Service consumers search the registry using various taxonomies for services that meet their needs, linking discovered services together to form Web services applications.