Best approach to remove the title field from my issue tracking list

Question

I want to add an issue tracking list, which have the following custom columns:-

1. Book Name
2. Book Description
3. Book Author
4. published date
5. Publish status.

now to achieve this i did the following steps:-

1. from site setting >> site content type >> i create a new Content Type (CT) named "Custom Issue CT" which have the built-in Issue content type as its parent.
2. then i create the above 5 site columns and i add them to the new CT.
3. then as i do not need the build-in site columns that come with the built-in Issue CT, so i hide them from the CT these including title, description, assinged to ,status, due date,... etc.
4. i add a new issue tracking list and i chnage its CT to be the new "Custom Issue CT".

Till now everything is working well... but i am afraid of this scenarios, and not sure how i can avoid it:-

1. Since i am using the built-in site columns such as title, description ,etc, then these site columns might be modified from the site level in the future. example some one might chnage the Description site column to be required and apply the changes to all columns copy,, then in this case the hidden Description field inside the new issue tracking list will be set a required, although it will still be hidden from the content type,but the column itself will be set as required.and having the Description column defined as required, will cause problems when the user try to add a new issue from the grid view, where the user will get an error that there is a required field that need to be entered.and in this case i need to make it as optional from the list level. so i am not sure how i need to approach this.. is removing these columns from the new "Custom Issue CT" a valid approach to follow ?

Answer 1

I've just worked through your scenario in SharePoint online.

Did 1. through to 4. Description is hidden in my custom Issue list form. Then I

5. edited the native Issue CT and made the Description field required.
6. clicked "Yes" to update all content types inheriting from this type
7. opened a new issue in my custom Issue list

The previously hidden Description now shows up in the custom Issue list form form and has the asterisk next to it.

8. go to the custom Issue list settings and edit the custom CT, where Description is showing as required.
9. Edit the Description column and set it to hidden
10. create a new custom Issue item and the description field no longer shows in the form.

It stands to reason in which situations it makes sense to propagate site CT changes to all inheriting CTs. This, as many things, requires planning and thinking ahead.

But even when the wrong decision is made, steps 8 ff. above show that it can be fixed.

Answer 2

Content Types work in that way and propagating changes is a good way to apply changes to all inheriting objects (List/Libraries).

You should not afraid because it requires higher privileges to do so, so only responsible person would be doing that.

You should wisely set up permission that will ensure only responsible persons can make necessary changes. Documentation and training would be also helpful. Also documentation can clearly explain consequences of changes.