Developing and Testing a Mobile Facsimile System: the case of ClikiFax

The proliferation of network enabled mobile devices is creating an extraordinary opportunity for designing of new applications. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a mobile facsimile application (ClikiFax) for the construction industry. Construction is an information intensive industry in which the accuracy and timeliness of information is vital. From similar studies conducted in literature, we adopt a theoretical framework consisting of multi-dimensional factors that could predominantly influence the usability of the ClikiFax system. These factors mainly fall under three categories such as, job-related, user behavioural and environmental determinants. Field testing of the ClikiFax system was conducted based on these three-dimensional factors. The results of this study indicate that the deployment of multi-functional mobile devices could assist construction companies in time-critical business processes such as, dynamic changes to site drawings and approvals at remote construction sites.