Smith County and Tyler Junior College entered into a partnership Tuesday to train county employees on commonly used computer programs.

The Smith County Commissioners Court unanimously approved contracting with the college to provide basic Microsoft Word and Excel classes.

The classes will be administered through the Corporate Services department in the college’s school of continuing studies. The department specializes in providing training to businesses and industries on a variety of topics, said Judie Bower, director of programs for the college’s school of continuing education.

“We have people that come to the county that they may have had exposure to word processing but they may not know the ins-and-outs of Word,” said Don Bell, the county’s chief technology officer.

He said the county is rolling out a new judicial system program, which will be heavily dependent on Word.

“It’s a strategy to create a more productive and educated workforce …” Bell said. “We have tenured people at Smith County — people who have been (with the county for) a long time. Some of the new technologies, they may not be comfortable with using.”

Bell said the county would start with two classes with 18 people in each. Ms. Bower said the courses are eight hours long, and it will cost the county $2,300 to train 20 employees.

The courses are voluntary, and the county is expecting to host more, based on demand. Additional areas of training for the future may include: customer service, time management, Microsoft and Cisco certifications and related information technology professional credentials, according to TJC.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with them again,” Ms. Bower said. “We have had a great relationship in the past, and this is a great opportunity.”

Past training classes over the years have included project management, Cisco CCNA, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server and leadership training, according to the college.