How can I create a SharePoint list with a column that can store for ever changing non employee names?

Question

currently we have multiple Sharepoint lists with columns containing drop-downs that contain the names of people that are agency staff so when they complete a form they can choose their name from the drop down.

The problem is that as they are agency staff they come and go quite often so these list need updating all the time, you are looking at about 20 columns in all which is time consuming.

So I am looking for a better way of doing this. To give you some background these columns all have different names and the name field can never be blank for auditing purposes.

I have looked at creating a list that these can reference but as soon as you delete that person the name is blank on the list, also tried creating a column on that list that only shows active people but as soon as the person is non active they disappear from the list also and I cant create a site column due to the naming differences on the different lists.

Anyone have a better idea as this is driving me round the bend :)

Cheers All

Answer 1

It might be a bit misusing of Managed Metadata Terms, but technically speaking if you'd have each person as Term, you could rename the term (when person changes), and it will update the list item values accordingly. Also if you'd remove the person (Term) altogether, the list item would keep the latest Term value.