The Office Proficiency Assessment and Certification (OPAC) System is a suite of PC-based tests that measure most critical skills and abilities in the modern office environment. The product design was based upon a two-year study by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) that identified typical duties. Biddle Consulting Group, an industry leader in test construction, test validation, and employee selection consulting, publishes and maintains continual enhancement of the OPAC System.

The OPAC System is the premier PC and office skills testing suite. With an array of over 30 tests—the OPAC System is the perfect tool to measure job applicant PC and office skills.

While many skill testing packages are simulated software, the OPAC System is the only testing software package that actually interacts with live applications. Why is this so important? It’s the only way to accurately measure an applicant’s job skills, and get a true picture of an applicant’s proficiency.

Software Tests
OPAC software tests measure abilities in specific applications using a “live software” approach. The test administration occurs in live copies of typical software applications such as MS Word®, MS Excel®, MS Access®, Lotus 1-2-3®, and WordPerfect®.

General Clerical Tests
OPAC general clerical tests, such as keyboarding, 10-key, data entry, filing and proofreading, occur directly within the OPAC System and have customizable time limits to suit different purposes and environments.

Specific Knowledge Tests
Specific knowledge tests occur within OPAC System’s exclusive Test. Writer feature, where administrators can create item banks of questions and answers pertaining to any subject. Questions can be associated with specific subcategories and weighted according to the wishes of the administrator. Sound clips, video, images, Web links and special formatting can be added to the questions and answers to enhance test items.

Why Test?
No one can find out everything about a candidate during an interview. Even skilled interviewers may not discover a candidate’s attitudes towards certain workplace or job specific behaviors. Testing helps to ascertain knowledge, skills and abilities not shown on the résumé, in the past performance, or during face-to-face impressions.

Benefits of the OPAC System
It is essential for the success of any business to recruit, hire and train employees with the skills necessary to perform well on the job. The use of The OPAC System at Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) centers are provided at no cost to area businesses. The OPAC System can contribute to a business’ success by providing the following benefits:

What OPAC Clients Have to Say

United Technical Associates, Inc. is very satisfied with the OPAC System. Because we are a professional and technical employment service, it is important to screen all of our applicants. Since our purchase of the OPAC System, we are using the testing package as an important tool in our screening process. The OPAC System is meeting the needs of our clients and also is very cost effective compared to other testing packages.

Alice Skiro
Human Resources Manager
United Technical Associates

I have used OPAC exclusively for my office skills testing. As far as accuracy, reliability and ease of administration, I don’t think OPAC can be topped.

Joe Ray
Senior Human Resources Officer
City of Hoover, AL

I work for the second largest utility in Arizona. We are switching from traditional typing and shorthand secretarial tests to OPAC as our managers feel that knowledge of word processing and language skills are more important than typing speed. We think OPAC will do a good job of assessing the knowledge, skills and abilities required of secretaries at Salt River Project.

Vicki Packman
Senior Analyst—Salt River Project
Tempe, AZ

OPAC System Tests

Operating Systems
Microsoft Windows 95 or higher
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or higher

Word Processing
Microsoft Word 2000, 97, 95, 6.0
Spreadsheets
Microsoft Excel 2000, 97, 95, 5.0
Lotus 1-2-3 5.0, 4.0, 3.0

Databases
Microsoft Access 2000, 97, 95, 2.0
dBase 5.5, 5.0
Paradox 5.0
FoxPro 2.x

Keyboarding
Keyboarding
10-Key
Data Entry (Vendor/Inventory/Invoice)

Clerical Tests
Formatting a Letter
Transcription
Composing Minutes
Alpha Filling
Numeric Filing
Proofreading

Financial Tests
Bank Reconciliation
Bank Deposit
Petty Cash
Basic Math