MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--April 26, 2006--SumTotal(TM) Systems
(NASDAQ: SUMT), the largest provider of learning and business
performance technologies and services, has released SumTotal
Enterprise 7.2, which is the newest version of its award-winning
enterprise software suite. "This release showcases the work we've been
doing for the better part of a year, developing technology to manage
talent across an employer's enterprise," said Dave Crussell,
SumTotal's chief operating officer. "We believe employers from both
the public and private sector will be able to drive real business
results utilizing our new platform to manage talent, learning and
performance across their workforces."
SumTotal's new platform is at the nexus of what Forrester Research
says is the "hottest segment" of the burgeoning market for HR
applications, the performance and talent management segment. In a
January 2006 research report, Forrester noted that technologies for
managing performance, talent and learning are among several strategic
applications leading the growth of the $9-billion market for HR
applications.
"We believe that, for employers, the purpose of learning is
grooming and retaining a high-potential workforce that can quickly
adapt to an ever-changing set of market forces," said Jon Ciampi, vice
president of marketing for SumTotal. "The technology that we think
will help employers do this is an enterprise talent structure built on
a platform that manages the lifecycle of employee performance,
compensation and learning. Wrapped around these components is a system
that manages content and knowledge. And encompassing it all is a
single, unified interface. With the release of SumTotal 7.2, we have
made significant progress toward achieving this vision."
"As the role of learning continues to take on greater importance
within the enterprise, companies are looking for a broader set of
solutions from their learning providers," said Peter C. McStravick,
senior research analyst for Learning Services at IDC. "SumTotal's
expanded suite of talent management products will allow HR and
training executives to use a more integrated approach in their
management of individual and organizational development needs."
Highlights of the expanded SumTotal suite are 1) an enhanced
performance management module, 2) "activity versioning," and 3)
"exception reporting." The TotalPerformance solution, which is
SumTotal's name for its performance management offering, gives
employers a global view of their company and employees' cascading
goals and objectives. The TotalPerformance solution also manages the
employee review process as well as a client's succession planning.
With SumTotal 7.2, clients can smoothly follow the performance
management process, integrating learning activities as part of a
worker's development plan. The SumTotal 7.2 platform also gives
managers a way to spend less time writing appraisals and more time
pinpointing how to bulk up an employee's skills. And SumTotal 7.2
offers employees instant access to development plans with
recommendations for the sort of learning that will help them meet
their goals as well as their company's overall aims.
The SumTotal 7.2 activity versioning module gives employers a way
to update automatically any edition of a learning activity delivered
to a workforce. "Essentially, what activity versioning does is help a
customer manage the lifecycle of learning," said Bill Docherty, senior
director of product management for SumTotal. "With our versioning
Wizard, we can show a client what version of a learning activity, or
course, they're looking at; employers can automatically manage the
effective date of multiple versions of the same course, at the same
time." According to Docherty, the new platform also keeps tabs on who
has taken a course, which version they took and what they learned.
According to SumTotal customer Toys 'R' Us, training had a
different look and feel across its more than 280 stores because each
location took care of its own education. With hundreds of locations
delivering learning to tens of thousands of employees, making sure
that each store had the latest version of data on an array of products
was a challenge. Retailers are among a number of industries that
should be able to use the activity versioning module in SumTotal 7.2
to streamline product announcements and roll outs, new-hire training
and store openings.
The exception reporting in SumTotal 7.2 gives managers a dashboard
view of which workers have not completed training on topics such as
compliance. Employers can look at this data by individual or by
groups. In fact, managers can use the exception reporting module to
view the progress their direct reports are making on a particular set
of compliance courses, whether individual or by a curriculum.
According to a June 2005 research report from Gartner, "Deploying a
business-class, e-learning program must be a top priority for any
organization in a regulated industry that needs to track personnel
compliance with critical processes." SumTotal 7.2 takes this
high-value component of any business-class solution to a new level.
Along with the new performance management module, activity
versioning and exception reporting, SumTotal 7.2 also includes
-- Datasheets that managers can use to identify employees with
specific sets of skills
-- A system for auditing database transactions
-- A way to tag certain transactions with an electronic signature
when users must identify themselves prior to completing
business, and
-- A SCORM 2004 player that can interpret navigation rules
defined within an online course
"A core component of our strategy is to drive growth through
product innovation across the learning market as well as the broader
talent management market," said Don Fowler, chief executive of
SumTotal. "We believe SumTotal 7.2 will not only advance our vision
but also increase the value of our customers' business operations."
About SumTotal Systems, Inc.
SumTotal Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMT) is the largest provider of
learning and business performance technologies and services. SumTotal
deploys mission-critical solutions that align learning with
organizational and business goals to generate significant bottom-line
results. With more than 17 million users worldwide, SumTotal has
helped accelerate performance and profits for more than 1,500 of the
world's best-known companies and government agencies including
Accenture, Aetna, Cendant, DaimlerChrysler, Delta Air Lines,
Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Novartis, PNC Bank, U.S. Army, U.S. Air
Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Bancorp, United Airlines,
Vodafone, Wachovia and Wyeth. SumTotal has offices throughout the
United States, in London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong
and Hyderabad, India. For more information about SumTotal's products
and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.
Safe Harbor Statement/ Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These
statements represent SumTotal Systems' expectations or beliefs
concerning future events. 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 7.2; (ii) the inability to fix in
a timely fashion unanticipated bugs, errors or defects that materially
impact the functionality or usability of SumTotal Enterprise Suite
7.2; (iii) the acceptance of SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.2 and future
product offerings; (iv) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal
Systems' solutions; (v) the ability to successfully address
technological developments and standards; (vi) the ability to
successfully manage growth, significant current and expected
additional competition, and the need to continue to expand product
distribution and services offerings; (vii) the growth of the business
performance and learning management software market; 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 annual report for fiscal year 2005 on Form
10-K filed March 28, 2006, and Form 8-Ks.
CONTACT: SumTotal Systems
Bill Perry, 614-975-7538
bperry[at]sumtotalsystems.com