> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spherecast.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Channels

> Manage your demand-side channels in a spreadsheet: types, sell-by days, eligible products, and per-channel launch and phase-out dates.

## What this page is for

A **Channel** is a route to market — a way your products reach customers (for example, Retail, Wholesale, or E-commerce). This page is the **management table** for your channels: a spreadsheet where you review and edit every channel and its per-product setup in one place.

It is the same channel entity you see in the network view; this is simply the spreadsheet-style place to manage them.

> **Note:** "Channels" is the default name and may be renamed for your company. The behavior is unchanged.

## What you set up

| Column              | What it controls                                                                                                        |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Name                | The channel's label.                                                                                                    |
| Type                | **Dummy** — a Spherecast-native placeholder you create for planning. **Actual** — synced from your ERP.                 |
| Sell-by days        | The channel's shelf-life window: how many days a product stays sellable in this channel. Can be overridden per product. |
| Sales rep           | The person responsible for the channel.                                                                                 |
| Forecasting enabled | Whether the channel participates in forecasting and demand planning.                                                    |
| Active              | Whether the channel is currently in use.                                                                                |

## How it works

Each channel also carries **per-product setup**, so you control which products sell where and when:

* **Eligible products** — the products allowed to sell in this channel.
* **Launch date** and **phase-out date** — per channel, when a product's demand **starts** and **stops** in that channel.
* **Royalty** — a flag marking products that carry a royalty in this channel.
* **Planning status** — a simple progress marker: **Untouched**, **In progress**, or **Done**, so you can track which products you've finished setting up.

Keep two ideas separate:

* **Launch / phase-out** is about *timing* — the start and end of a product's life in a channel.
* A **demand profile** is about *shape* — the seasonal curve of demand across the year. See [Demand profiles](/demand-profiles).

A product can have a launch date (when it begins) and a demand profile (how its demand is distributed) at the same time — they answer different questions.

## Step by step: set up a channel

1. Find the channel's row, or add a new one.
2. Set the **Type**, **Sell-by days**, **Sales rep**, **Forecasting enabled**, and **Active** values.
3. Use **Add eligible product** to list the products allowed in this channel.
4. Use **Add launches / phase-outs** to set when each product's demand starts and stops here.
5. **Add rule** to define channel-specific logic, and set a **royalty** flag where it applies.
6. Update each product's **planning status** as you work so the team can see progress.

## Row actions

* **Edit** and **Delete** — you can only delete **Spherecast-native (Dummy)** channels. ERP-synced (Actual) channels are deactivated at the source, not deleted here.
* **Add rule**, **Add eligible product**, **Add launches / phase-outs**.
* **Transition** — turn a **dummy** channel into a **real** one once it exists in your ERP.

## Example

You create a **Dummy** channel called "New Retail" while a store rollout is still being finalized. You mark three products as eligible, set a **launch date** of March 1 for each, leave **phase-out** blank, and set **sell-by days** to 90. As you finish each product you flip its **planning status** to **Done**. When the channel goes live in your ERP, you use **Transition** to make it a real channel.

> **Tip:** Use **planning status** as your checklist — sort or scan for anything still **Untouched** or **In progress** before you finalize a cycle. See also [Markets](/markets), [Demand profiles](/demand-profiles), and [Network channels](/guide/network/channels).