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VA TO EVALUATE TECHNOLOGY-BASED TRAINING FOR

SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNSELORS -- Will try to find

best ways to use online training to benefit veterans.

 

 

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news/bnitem.aspx?name=13616693

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With SumTotal ''ResultsOnDemand,'' VA's Palo Alto Health Care System Studies Learning

Business Wire

SumTotal(R) Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUMT), the largest provider of talent and learning solutions announced that researchers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System have purchased ResultsOnDemand(TM) to underpin a study designed to evaluate the best way to deliver learning to hundreds of substance abuse counselors. ResultsOnDemand is SumTotal's subscription model for analyzing employee performance and delivering learning over the Internet.

SumTotal's software will give the Palo Alto, Calif.-based researchers the framework and technology to control how counselors in the study learn about new treatment approaches. Their study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), evaluates how best to use technology-based training to help practicing substance abuse counselors learn about cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is an evidence-based treatment that is known to be effective, but is not currently in widespread use in the community.

"We're not trying to prove -- with our study -- that online training has merits over classroom training," said Steven W. Villafranca, research health science specialist at the Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine. "We already know that online training can be as effective as face-to-face workshops. Instead, we want to know what is the best possible way to deliver online training to counselors so that they achieve the most beneficial outcomes for their clients. For example: do counselors learn and retain more when they have the ability to select the training content that they feel is most relevant to their clinical practice, or do they learn best by following a traditional step-by-step process of instruction?"

The Palo Alto research team will use the SumTotal platform to launch two different versions of an online CBT course. The researchers will monitor two groups as they progress through the experiment. One set of participants will have the freedom to choose the online instruction they want, in the order they want. The other group will follow a rigidly prescribed order of online learning. Technology from WebEx, which integrates with SumTotal's platform, will allow the research team to provide all participants with supervision in small groups. At the end of the study, the researchers will rely on SumTotal's software to analyze not only what counselors learned but also how they learned.

"The SumTotal system will show us important ways to combine learning technologies to achieve the best outcomes for counselors and their clients," said Kenneth R. Weingardt, associate director of the Palo Alto Health Care System's Program Evaluation and Resource Center and the study's Principal Investigator. "This may be the first time a learning management system has been used to empirically compare different pedagogical approaches."

"We liked the price of ResultsOnDemand," added Villafranca. "We wanted a top-rated solution in place quickly for several hundred users, and it was important to have integration with WebEx. So we chose SumTotal."

About SumTotal Systems, Inc.

SumTotal Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUMT) is the largest provider of talent and learning solutions. SumTotal deploys mission-critical solutions that align talent and knowledge with organizational processes 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 in the United States, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Hyderabad. For more information about SumTotal's products and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.

SumTotal and the SumTotal logo are trademarks or registered 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.

Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements

Information in 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's solutions (which includes ResultsOnDemand(TM)); (ii) the inability to fix in a timely fashion unanticipated bugs, errors or defects that materially impact the functionality or usability of SumTotal's software; (iii) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal Systems' solutions; (iv) the ability to successfully integrate SumTotal's solutions with WebEx; (v) the ability to successfully manage and increase growth, significant current and expected additional competition, and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings; (vi) the acceptance of SumTotal's software suite and future product offerings; (vii) the ability to successfully address technological developments and standards; 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 company's annual report on Form 10-K filed on March 28, 2006, its quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on November 9, 2006, its Form S-3/As filed on September 28, 2006, and October 2, 2006, and its Form 8-Ks. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of March 2, 2007, and SumTotal does not assume any obligation to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.

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Larry Scott  --