SumTotal Systems to Co-Host ASTD Web Seminar on Issue of Learning Centralization or Decentralization; Free Session Moderated by SumTotal President Kevin Oakes; Panelists Include Harley-Davidson, Cendant, Cingular Wireless.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- SumTotal Systems (Nasdaq:SUMTE), the largest provider of learning and business performance technologies and services, announced that it will co-host a Web seminar today with ASTD, entitled, "Grand Central Training: What's More Effective, a Centralized or Decentralized Training Structure?" The session will be held today, Tuesday, May 17, 2005, at 11 a.m. EDT / 8 a.m. PDT. Kevin Oakes, SumTotal Systems president, will moderate the session with introductory remarks by Rex Davenport, editor of ASTD's T+D Magazine. Panelists include George Selix, chief learning officer of Cendant Real Estate Franchise Group, Rob Lauber, executive director, learning services at Cingular Wireless and Carl Castrogiovanni, director of business development at Harley-Davidson.

Increasing globalization, mergers and acquisitions and other catalysts are reinvigorating the interest in centralizing training and development. Organizations are reassessing their models for workplace learning with questions about the best approach for their corporate structures and how they can transition from a decentralized to a centralized model. Today's session will outline why organizations have made the shift to a centralized model, and what elements to consider when doing so. The seminar also will explore the increasing role technology is playing in centralizing the learning and development function, as well as the often misunderstood drivers of common practices and culture across the organization.

"There are two major issues currently facing learning professionals in large organizations," said Selix. "The first is whether to centralize or decentralize learning -- or how and where learning gets driven in an extended global enterprise. Different models end up working for different organizations, but companies continue to wrestle with which model best suits their specific structures and business needs. The second -- which is related to the first -- is the relationship between the human resources and learning functions and who ultimately is responsible for managing human capital. I think this panel will shed light on some of the important considerations organizations should take into account when making decisions about their learning and human capital models."

"When most people think about enterprise-level learning, there's often an assumption that training is centralized or controlled from one primary department or person," said Oakes. "In reality, many companies don't operate that way, traditionally employing a wide array of training departments across divisions, regions and lines of business. Centralization vs. decentralization is an old debate, but many large organizations, particularly Fortune 500 companies, have taken significant steps to unify their disparate training groups, with some common catalysts driving that movement. It seems the debate bears revisiting. It should make for a lively discussion today."

Oakes elaborates on the topic in the May and July 2005 editions of "The Enterprise," a column he writes for T+D Magazine.

To register for today's session, visit the SumTotal Systems Web site at www.sumtotalsystems.com or http://events.interwise.com/?p=500393&t=1). Following the live seminar, the session will be archived on the SumTotal Systems Web site.

About SumTotal Systems

SumTotal Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUMTE) is the largest provider of learning and business performance 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, United Airlines, US Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, Vodafone, Aetna, 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. For more information on SumTotal and its solutions and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.

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 7.1. 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 7.1; (ii) inability to fix in a timely fashion unanticipated bugs, errors or defects that material impact the functionality or usability of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1, or unanticipated problems in customer upgrades to SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1 from prior SumTotal products (iii) unexpected shipment problems or delays of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1; (iv) customers or partners delaying purchasing or upgrade decisions until there is widespread market acceptance of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1; (v) the acceptance of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1 and future product offerings; (vi) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal Systems' solutions; (vii) the ability to successfully address technological developments and standards; (viii) ability to successfully manage growth, significant current and expected additional competition, and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings; and (ix) 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 and its Form 8-Ks filed on February 2, March 8, 10 and 17, and April 6, 20 and 28, 2005. SumTotal Systems assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release."