SumTotal Systems Promotes James M. Gill to Director, Government Sales

Learning and business performance leader strengthens focus of government sales organization to meet special requirements of US government and military customers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (January 10, 2005) - SumTotal Systems (NASDAQ: SUMT), the industry’s largest provider of learning and business performance technologies, services and processes, today announced that it has strengthened its commitment to the military and government sectors by promoting James M. Gill director of government sales and consolidating the company’s expert military and government sales staff under Gill’s leadership.

SumTotal Systems has an extensive history of helping the military and local, state and federal organizations develop successful, large-scale training initiatives designed to quickly and efficiently achieve personnel readiness at all levels. With the SumTotal Enterprise Suite, which easily adapts to the specialized needs of government and military learner populations, SumTotal Systems has ensured the success of a wide range of organizations. Among them are the Government of the District of Columbia, US Army Defense Ammunition Center, Fannie Mae, Washington State Dept. of Labor and Industry, US Army Recruiting, DSHS, the US Coast Guard (Deepwater System), Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, and numerous others.

As director of government sales, Gill will head a team of government and military veterans who have built significant expertise in the unique learning and training environment of the sector. Prior to being named to his new position, Gill, a retired US Army Master Sergeant, was an account executive for SumTotal Systems specializing in customers affiliated with the US Department of Defense. In this role, Gill was responsible for business development, sales and account management within the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Joint Commands.

“Since Jim joined SumTotal, he has consistently contributed to growing our leadership in the government sector,” said Kevin Oakes, SumTotal president. “Jim is respected throughout the industry. His in-depth knowledge of the unique infrastructure of US government organizations has been instrumental in our ability to win new customers in the space and to help them successfully meet their learning and productivity goals. With Jim's leadership and the talent of our government sales team, we expect to continue to expand our government and military presence in 2005.”

Before joining SumTotal Systems in June, 2003, Gill was director of training and development for the US Army’s Recruiting and Retention School at Fort Jackson South Carolina. He led course development for an annual student population of more than 8,000 personnel and was responsible for the redesign of the Recruiting Command’s Station Commanders Course and Pre-Command Course, the joint development of the Recruiting Command’s Leadership Professional Development Program, and the joint implementation of the Recruiting Command’s Learning Management System.

Gill enlisted in the Army Aug 3, 1983 and attended basic training at the US Army Infantry Center Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon graduation from Infantry basic he was assigned to 4th Battalion 10th Infantry Regiment at Fort Davis, Republic of Panama. He subsequently served as Infantry Squad Member, Gunner and Infantry Squad Leader during his tour in Panama that also included a tour with the 1st Battalion 187th Infantry Regiment located at Fort Clayton, Panama. Additional assignments included tours with the 101st Air Assault Division and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Gill is a combat veteran of Desert Storm serving with the 2nd Squadron 4th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Division during combat operations in Iraq and Kuwait.

About SumTotal Systems, Inc.

SumTotal Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMT) is the business performance and learning technology industry’s largest single provider of technologies, processes and services. Formed by the merger of industry pioneers Docent and Click2learn, the company is uniquely focused on helping organizations harness and manage mission-critical intellectual power to solve real-world business problems and produce significant bottom-line results. SumTotal has helped accelerate performance and profit for more than 675 of the world’s best-known companies and federal and local government agencies, including Microsoft, AT&T, US Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, Vodafone, Lucent, Accenture, Cendant, Harley-Davidson, Wyeth, Wachovia and D & B. SumTotal Systems is headquartered in Mountain View, CA, with offices throughout the US, as well as in London, Paris, Heidelberg, Sydney, Tokyo and Hyderabad, India.

Safe Harbor Statement/ Forward-Looking Statements
"Information in this press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements represent SumTotal Systems’ expectations or beliefs concerning future events and include statements, among others, regarding SumTotal Systems’ new product, SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0. These statements are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance or events and are based on current expectations, estimates, beliefs, assumptions, goals and objectives, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by these statements. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to (i) unknown errors or bugs in SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0; (ii) unexpected shipment problems or delays of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0; (iii) customers or partners delaying purchasing decisions; (iv) the acceptance of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 and future product offerings; (v) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal System’s solutions; (vi) the ability to successfully address technological developments and standards; (vii) ability to successfully manage growth, significant current and expected additional competition, and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings; and (viii) other events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in SumTotal Systems' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the quarterly report filed on Form 10Q on November 15, 2004. SumTotal Systems assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release."