ClimMob

ClimMob is a free software and online platform for the design and management of participatory testing projects, using the tricot approach. ClimMob guides you through your own tricot project. It takes care of data management and statistics.

The current version of ClimMob is version 3. [https://climmob.net/climmob3/].

Tricot data is uploaded into ClimMob via the Android app ODK Collect. You need an Android device (smartphone or tablet) to use this app. [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.odk.collect.android&hl=en].

Analysis of tricot rankings data in ClimMob relies on the custom-built R package ClimMobTools. If you are familiar with R, you can use this package to do additional analyses. [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ClimMobTools/index.html]

Participatory tests are complex. They involve many people (implementers, field agents and growers), they are spread out across regions and countries, and they result in large amounts of data. To facilitate a simple workflow, ClimMob has been custom-built to ensure that every tricot project is easy to manage and successful. ClimMob software helps in project design, takes care of computing all necessary test package combinations, and compiles, stores and analyzes all data.

ClimMob makes the tricot process simple. It allows many organization to implement a project, in a resource-efficient and effective way.

As an implementer (project leader), you benefit from ClimMob because it guides you through project design and coordination of field agents and trial packages. Later, you can easily analyze the resulting data by interpreting an attractive, automatically generated report.
As a tester (grower or other), you benefit because you will get the result of the tests back soon after the data have been submitted. This will allow you to learn about the results from other testers and to make an informed decision to adopt any new technology option that was tested.
As a field agent, you benefit from using ClimMob because it makes registration of participating testers simple. Later, collecting field data from the testers is streamlined by using the ODK Collect smartphone app, feeding data back to ClimMob in a quick and fail-safe way.

The ClimMob software supports a tricot project from start to end. The process of using ClimMob to design, manage and analyze a tricot project can be broken down into nine steps. Below is an overview of these steps, and how it fits into a tricot project.

At the beginning of the project, ClimMob helps you design your tricot project

1. Log in or register an account for free on ClimMob
2. Create tricot project
   • Navigate the main menu
   • Create tricot project
   • Project definition
3. Assign field agents
4. Select technology options
5. Prepare grower registration
6. Prepare observation cards
7. Open grower registration (+ generate test packages)

Once you have defined your project, ClimMob will compute a randomized list of different combinations of your technology options. For example, if you defined that 300 growers will participate in testing new bean varieties, ClimMob will compute 300 test packages. Each of the 300 packages will have a randomized subset of three bean varieties each. Following this list, the implementer now has to prepare the test packages which will be handed out to participating growers. The on-farm testing is ready to start!

Once the growing season is over, and the growers have finished collecting all their observations:

8. Collect data with the ODK Collect app
9. Analyze data

Please refer to the ClimMob manual, for hands-on guidance on how to click your way through every step.