EMI Music Group hopes to increase record sales and react more quickly to changes in the music charts after installing a web-based sales and marketing portal.

The world's largest music publisher, which boasts artists including Lenny Kravitz, The Beastie Boys and Robbie Williams, also expects to improve business practices across more than 50 markets worldwide by better sharing of information.

Working with supplier Avanade to install the Microsoft .Net-based system, EMI marketing and sales staff are starting to put plans for new music launches into a central repository and use analysis tools to measure actual success against projected sales.

'I think it is transforming and improving things,' said Craige Pendleton-Browne, programme director at EMI Music. 'It is allowing us to make better decisions - and that will lead to better sales.'

By standardising presentation of marketing plans and sales projections, the global marketing department also expects to cut administration costs. Real-time information means local and international teams can work on projects at the same time to improve planning and decision-making.

'The data is in a structured format rather than free text, which allows us to analyse it much more quickly,' said Pendleton-Browne. 'It provides real-time plans and allows us to disseminate information much quicker and introduce best practice during a particular campaign.'

'The timing of certain marketing actions can have a massive influence over sales. So, looking at it in real-time can help improve business.'

The Avanade system, which uses Microsoft Internet Information Server, Windows 2003 and SQL Server, has also reduced duplication of information, freeing members of the marketing team to focus on sales forecasts for seasonal promotions.

By making the database and analysis tools accessible over the internet, EMI has also been able to roll out the application to a greater number of regions.

'We have a web-based application, which is accessible over fairly low bandwidth connections, so even our remote territories can use the system,' said Pendleton-Browne.