In Revit Electrical Design workflows, when a designer wishes to add a parameter to a lighting fixture schedule without editing the families themselves, the proper approach is to use a Project Parameter.
The Revit MEP documentation clearly explains:
“To add a custom field to a schedule, you can create a custom parameter using the Parameter Properties dialog. Under Parameter Type, select Project parameter.”
This method links the parameter directly to the project and to all instances of the specified category (in this case, Lighting Fixtures), allowing it to appear in the schedule automatically without requiring any modification to the family files (.RFA).
In contrast:
Family Parameters apply only within the family file and are not schedulable across multiple families.
Global Parameters control dimensional or relational constraints, not schedule data.
Reporting Parameters are read-only and extract model information; they cannot be manually added to schedules.
Revit’s scheduling workflow defines this process:
“On the Fields tab of the Sheet List Properties dialog, click Add Parameter… Under Parameter Type, select Project parameter.”
This same mechanism applies to lighting fixture schedules, as schedules and sheet lists share parameter structures in Revit. The new project parameter can then be sorted, filtered, and displayed in the schedule view for documentation or tagging purposes.
[References:, Autodesk Revit MEP User’s Guide – Chapter 49 “Preparing Construction Documents,” pp. 1126–1128, Autodesk Revit Parameters Overview – “Project Parameters” and “Shared Parameters,” pp. 1541–1543, Autodesk Revit Electrical Design Essentials – Schedule and Parameter Management Section, ]
