Version 5.3.1 of Stocker Warehouse Management System is now available for download from the PulseStar website. This release focuses on three main enhancements
Version 5.3.1 sees the first release of the Free edition of Stocker WMS.
Released in recognition a 30-day trial may not be sufficient time for busy warehouse managers to properly evaluate a Warehouse Management System. The free edition enables you to set up your warehouse and permits data import of customer, supplier and product details. You can configure your warehouse for operation and receive and despatch stock, although this is largely a manual operation pallet by pallet. However, with the complete help for the full standard edition you have all the tools to get up and running and upgrade to the standard version in your own time.
Evaluations of Stocker WMS have always been provided with the option to install SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. The standard editions have always had the option to install SQL Server 2008 Express Edition.
Going forward, the free edition is supplied with SQL Server 2005. It is lighter, less resource hungry than the more recent versions and provides a smaller package for trialling Stocker.
The standard edition, at least for the moment, continues to be centered around SQL Server 2008 as this is the last edition which can be installed on Windows XP - which is still supported by Stocker WMS.
However, if you currently have SQL Server 2012 or 2014 it is now possible to install Stocker to make use of these two versions. It is also far easier to upgrade all the way from SQL Server 2005 through to 2014.
Firstly, as mentioned above Stocker can be be installed to use existing instances of SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2014.
Next support is now included for installing Stocker on 64bit machines with an existing 64bit version of SQL Server. The Express Editions of SQL Server installed with Stocker are installed as 32bit versions within the WoW64 subsystem. Now, when looking for an existing instance of SQL Server, the installation programs first look for a 32bit version then, if none is found, they will look for a 64bit version.
Finally, to assist in upgrading Stocker, the installers (setup programs) now have the option to pick up user backups of their own databases or use the standard databases provided by the installers.
A number of other enhancements have been provided in version 5.3.1.