SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 Earns Praise From Early Adopters

Beta program participants enthusiastic about potential of powerful, adaptable new platform to help solve critical business challenges

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (December 21, 2004) – SumTotal™ Systems (NASDAQ: SUMT), the industry’s largest provider of learning and business performance technologies, services and processes, today announced that the recently launched SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0, has generated significant enthusiasm and positive feedback among the early adopter organizations that road-tested the powerful new platform during a beta testing program conducted over the past few months. Participants in the program included Pfizer, Symantec, Seagate, Bechtel, Baker Hughes, Schwan’s, Mercury, US Army Training Support Command, Wachovia, Motorola and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Participants in the SumTotal 7.0 beta program were asked to assess the potential value of SumTotal 7.0 to help them address critical business challenges and goals in their extended organizations. Each was also asked to evaluate the platform’s usability, feature enhancements and a number of new functional innovations SumTotal expects will set the suite apart from all other offerings on the market. Among these were:

• Open Activity Architecture (OAA) - revolutionary new functionality that allows for streamlined management of blended learning, learning plans and courses from a single point
  
  
• Dynamic Domains - enabling significantly easier management of user organizations and prescribed learning paths, as well as dynamic adjustments based on changes in the learner population
  
  
• Integration Framework and Web Services – offering unprecedented interoperability and integration with other technology applications and infrastructures
  
  
• Embedded LMS Reporting Capabilities – out-of-the-box reporting capabilities allowing easy and secure creation of reports from any LMS data to measure the impact of learning on business metrics and objectives

"Participating in the beta program gave us the ability to experience first-hand the revolutionary technology of the new SumTotal platform, including Open Activity Architecture, Domains, and knowledge management tracking," said Wendy Towne, training administration supervisor at Schwan's, one of the largest providers of frozen foods in the U.S. "This functionality will help us provide a new level of service to our customers, where we can accurately reflect their learning and development activities in our LMS. We look forward to using the new features and functionality available to us in the new 7.0 Suite."

"Starwood Hotels & Resorts has a decentralized training organization with geographically dispersed associates and more than 1000 trainers delivering learning to these associates," said Susie Bassich, senior manager, organizational capability at hotel and leisure giant, Starwood Hotels and Resorts. "With our upgrade to SumTotal 7.0 in early 2005, the robust domains and audiences features will enable our instructors to maintain their own course structures and yet also maintain a high level of security. This will also allow us to push targeted learning activities to specific audiences versus associates having to seek out those opportunities."

"The SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 is revolutionary in terms of functionality compared with earlier versions. The new system is more configurable, with broad-scale flexibility that provides for easier and faster reporting, minimizes the need for time-consuming customization, and allows more streamlined integration with ERP and legacy systems," said Francisco Antonio Soeltl, president of SumTotal's Brazilian partner MicroPower, one of the foremost e-learning companies in Brazil and organizer of eLearnging Brazil, the largest learning industry event in Latin America. "With SumTotal 7.0, our customers have the opportunity to use a more intuitive solution, with powerful resources that facilitate easier navigation and reduce the time and complexity of working with the system."

"The customers and partners in our beta program, along with more than 400 other SumTotal customers that have offered feedback as we developed SumTotal 7.0, have all played a crucial role in helping us create what we believe is the next market-leading solution," said R. Andrew Eckert, SumTotal CEO. "We anticipate that the successful early performance of SumTotal 7.0 in these large, diverse organizations will set the stage for significant interest and adoption among similar global organizations in the coming months."

For more information about the new SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0, or to learn about upgrading, please visit www.sumtotalsystems.com or phone 1-866-SMTOTAL.

About SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0
Providing unparalleled breadth in application and depth in business functionality, the SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 is the industry’s most comprehensive, globally scalable learning and business performance offering, and the only one to combine learning management, learning content management, in-depth analytics and other mission-critical, standards-based learning applications on a single, integrated platform. SumTotal 7.0 promises more flexible, rapid, strategic delivery and management of learning activities; unprecedented options for measuring learning impact on revenues, expenses, cycle time and other business results; and unique interoperability and integration capabilities that dramatically reduce the cost of ownership.

About SumTotal Systems, Inc.
SumTotal Systems, Inc. is the global leader of strategic Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions that provide organizations with a new level of visibility to help make more informed business decisions and accelerate growth. Recognized by industry analysts as the most complete solution, SumTotal provides full employee lifecycle management, including a core system of record, from a single provider for improved business intelligence. The company offers customers of all sizes and industries the most flexibility and choice with multiple purchase, configuration, and deployment options. We have increased the performance of the world’s largest organizations including Sony Electronics (NYSE: SNE), AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN [ADR]; London: AZN), Amway (KUL:AMWAY), Seagate (NYSE: STX), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).
For more information, or to request a demo, please call +1 (866) 768-6825 (US / Canada), +1 (352) 264-2800 (international) or visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.

SumTotal and the SumTotal logo, are registered trademarks or trademarks of SumTotal Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.