Case Study: Howard County Public Schools achieves compliant, automated preventive maintenance with Brightly Software

Howard County Public Schools Upgrades Preventive Maintenance with Dude Solutions and ALPHA

Howard County Public Schools (57,000 students across 77 schools in Columbia, MD) faced a critical challenge: their preventive maintenance (PM) program was paper-based and incomplete, and a 2018 Maryland law threatened equipment funding unless districts could prove industry-standard PM recordkeeping. With limited staff and time, the district needed to modernize documentation, validate existing HVAC schedules, and ensure compliance.

Working with Dude Solutions and partner ALPHA Facilities Solutions, HCPSS had ALPHA inventory assets and create PM plans for electrical and plumbing, then upload the data into Dude Solutions’ maintenance software—completing nine million square feet in two weeks. The result: automated PM schedules and work orders, clear cost and parts visibility, reliable records for legislative compliance, rapid vendor support, and actionable KPIs that help leadership justify staffing and budget decisions.

Howard County Public Schools

Craig Powell

Data Administrator for the District