This curriculum guide is designed to train students in the competencies necessary to meet the needs of the automated office in entry-level information processing positions. The guide is organized into 16 units that are correlated with the essential elements for the business information processing course. Introductory materials include a scope and sequence outline, information on use of the instructional units, and suggested teaching strategies. Each unit, which covers more than one lesson or period of instruction, includes the following components: curriculum outline with unit objective, learning objective, generalization or purpose, content outline, learning experience, and evaluation; resource list; competency checklist; unit overview; learning activities; and competency tests. The 16 units are divided into 5 sections as follows: (1) contemporary office systems (information processing in the automated office, successful employment); (2) related skills for information processing (keyboarding skills, business communication skills, proofreading information, formatting business documents, transcription skills); (3) processing information (word processing concepts, document production); (4) information management (records management, database management, electronic spreadsheet applications, financial management); and (5) information distribution (telecommunications, graphics, desktop publishing). Appendixes include information on lesson plans, essential elements, lists of resource organizations, and information on curriculum modification for special needs students. (YLB)