Office Software

Students pursuing the Office Software Certificate of Achievement will become proficient in Microsoft programs and other current office software, such as Google Suite and cloud-based applications. This certificate covers skills in the preparation of business documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases, as well as important business-specific skills such as email and records management, data visualization, social media for business, and Internet use for the workplace.

Our office software program has been a certificate for a short period of time, and already has students enrolled and working towards completion. It is estimated to have 5-10 students completing the certificate program by the second year. As the office software program gains more recognition, and more students join the program, the number of certificate of achievement completers should increase to 15-20 or more by year five.

Cabrillo College is seeking approval from the Chancellor’s Office for the new Office Software Certificate of Achievement.

The Office Software Certificate of Achievement prepares students for entry-level careers in business and professional workplace settings. The Office Software Certificate of Achievement provides beginning to advanced level skills, in a broad variety of essential software suites, in a short-term format. Computer Applications/Business Technology (CABT) prepares students to use computer applications and business procedures to solve problems in contemporary business environments. CABT courses are applicable in many career ladders including vocational training and retraining, and career advancement. CABT courses, certificates, and the AS Degree are stepping-stones to a variety of professional careers in business and technology.

According to the San Francisco Bay Center of Excellence, there is an under-supply of workers to meet the market needs for the job cluster requiring skills from the Office Software certificate of achievement, There is a projected annual gap of about 11,084 students in the Bay region and 704 students in the Santa Cruz-Monterey sub-region. According to the California Community College Foundation, there is a need to increase training for office professionals to meet market demands across the entire state, where students in computer application and business tech classes number slightly more than a third of the hundreds-of thousands of job openings. With our online format, and the majority of the classes certified with the high standards of the OEI rubric by the end of 2020, we can serve students throughout the state of California.

There are 8 core courses required for a total of 19.5 units. 

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
CABT 132	Beginning/Intermediate Documents	2.00	Year 1, Spring
CABT 133	Advanced Documents	2.00	Year 1, Spring
CABT 44	Advanced Spreadsheets	2.00	Year 1, Fall or Spring
CABT 105	Records Information Management	3.00	Year 1, Fall
CABT 108	Social Media for Business	3.50	Year 1, Spring
CABT 121	Effective Presentations	3.00	Year 1, Fall
CABT 160	Outlook and Internet	2.00	Year 1, Fall or Spring

The office software program can serve as an on-ramp for larger or more advanced certificates of achievement, such as the Business Information Worker I and II Certificates of Achievement, as well as the stepping stone towards the CABT AS Degree.

There are two other colleges in our Santa Cruz-Monterey sub-region, with only one, Hartnell College, offering a similar program. Hartnell College’s program has a different scope and sequence of classes than the Cabrillo program. Programs similar to Cabrillo College’s Office Software program exist at several community colleges in Los Angeles County, as well as in the Central Valley.