In this article I would like to emphasize Content Type as Metadata, the scenarios involved & frequently asked questions.
What is Content Type?
Content type is a reusable collection of Metadata (columns), workflow, behaviors, and other settings. Definition from MSDN:
"A content type is a reusable collection of settings that you want to apply to a certain category of content. Content types enable you to manage the metadata and behavior of a document, item, or folder in a centralized, reusable way. "
What are the advantages of Content Type?
Content Type provides the following advantages:
- Centrally Managed We can define content type in a central location & this improves the Accuracy & Consistency.
- Reusable We can reuse a content type across multiple libraries, sites, site collections & web applications. This reduces the repetition work.
- Metadata Content Type allows us to create columns for the underlying data involved.
- Behavior We can associate workflows for content types. This enables workflow to be started across various libraries that use the same content type. For example: A document of content type "Contract" requires an "Approval" workflow to be started.
- Retention Policies We can associate Information Management Policies for content types. This allows global policy application for an entire document/item with specific content type. For example: We can set a document archiving policy for all "project" content type documents with an age greater than 3 years.
- Content Standardization Since the content type is centralized & managed by authorized professionals, the Quality of Data will be improved.
- Custom Forms We can associate custom forms with each content type. For example an Expense content type can have a custom form showing lookup values.
- Hierarchical We can create new content type from existing content types. This allows reusing existing structure.
Can we assign Content Type to a List?
Yes. We can have Document content type & List content type.
Can a document library have multiple Content Types?
Yes. For an example scenario, we can have a project document library that contains a "Requirement" content type and a "Documentation" content type that is a different type of document.
Can a parent site's Content type be reusable in a child site?
Yes. Content type created in a parent site is available for sites & sub sites.
What is Content Type Hub?
A content type created in a Web Application can be made available in another Web application. Such a web application created for Content Type sharing is called Content Type Hub. We need to configure a Managed Metadata Service (MMS) for this purpose.
What is the difference between Site Content Type & List Content Type?
When you create a content type at a site level, it is a Site Content type. When you add the content type to a List level, it is copied & becomes a List content type.
Is Content Type Metadata?
Yes. Content Type can be called Metadata. Additional to Metadata, Content Type can have behavior, forms & retention policies.
When I should use Taxonomy Terms instead of Content Types?
If you wanted to classify the entire document & items, you can assign Taxonomy Terms.
What are the various Metadata infrastructures available?
I would say Columns, Site Columns, Content Types, Terms are those available in SharePoint.
Columns are the List/Library Columns, but Site Columns represent reusable Columns at the site level.
References
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms479905(v=office.14).aspx
Summary
In this article we have explored Content Type advantages & associated frequently asked questions.