Channel

Channel is the route to market for a selected Product, from which base forecasts are generated. The Channel definition is determined during Demand Forecasting Initialization.
Note: Modifying the channel definition can only be done if the business area is reset.

These are the various types of channels:

Customer
The base Planning Entity (PE) or Channel Product (CP) is set to Products that are delivered to the specific Customer, regardless of the location of where the product is shipped from. Therefore, the forecast is generated based on the delivery requests of the customer, without distractions such as adhoc shipments from other warehouses due to supply issues. If required, the forecast can be published for the Product and Customer’s Default Ship From Warehouse to an ERP.
Note: By default, the channel is set to Customer.
Warehouse
When a channel is defined as Warehouse, the base PE or CP is set to the Products sold from a Warehouse location, regardless of the customer supplied. This type of channel is used when the specific customer is unidentified (for example, retail business) or when the forecast is only considered at the warehouse.