Master the art of requirements gathering.
Elevate your workshop facilitation skills and become the professional everyone wants on their team.
"Hamish’s course has completely changed the way I approach workshops. As a result, I walk into workshops a lot more confident, spend a lot less time preparing and get better results."
Who is this course for?
Defining Business Applications is for Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 professionals - business analysts, functional consultants, solution architects, or app makers - who want a reliable framework for leading requirements gathering workshops that ensure all requirements are captured, accurately. If you are an experienced business applications professional and want to level up you career with better, more efficient ways to collaborate with your team and stakeholders, this course is for you.
Who should NOT buy this course?
If you already have a framework for facilitating online workshops, this course is probably not for you.
This course is focused on providing you with a system to elicit quality requirements, faster. It's a behind-the-scenes look at the toolkit I use with my own clients for planning, understanding business & user needs and documenting requirements in a way that everyone understands. This course is not some "hack" or "trick" course. It's focused on human-centred design & facilitations skills to help business application consultants accurately and efficiently gather requirements with confidence.
Lead the pack in business application design.
Stand out from the crowd with design thinking principles and proven facilitation techniques.
Work efficiently and save time
Reduce the amount of time spent writing & reviewing notes and lengthy documentation.
Reduce re-work & cost
Get the right requirements up front to prevent the need for costly rework.
Boost confidence & reduce stress
Become self-assured and comfortable in facilitating workshops, even in challenging scenarios.
Career progression
Facilitation skills are sought after. Open doors to career advancement & increase earning potential.
Improve project outcomes
Align stakeholders to ensure the success of your projects, enhancing the value you bring.
Enhance team collaboration
Foster better understanding and teamwork in your projects, leading to a more harmonious environment.
How It Works
Based on our guided requirements gathering framework, Defining Business Applications is a 4-week coaching program that provides you with the tools and knowhow to have a big impact on the way you facilitate requirements workshops from week 1.
This is not your typical online course. It is interactive and hands on.
It is designed to transform your facilitation skill, and I work with you to ensure we achieve this.
2. Access the online learning platform
Get instant access to the self-paced tutorials on our learning platform. Lifetime access to videos, articles, templates and workbooks to support your learning journey.
4. Apply to your work
From week 1, apply your new skills to your work. Have questions after the program? No worries. Our community and 1:1 follow-up coaching sessions have you covered.
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The Solution Mapping Framework
Guided workshops to collaboratively define business application requirements.
What People Say...
Every time I interact with AppRising and you, the most prominent message I receive is the genuine care of how your business impacts people and brings them value in their life. It's not just through your words, but your actions.
I would say overall, change in solution building at this company is evolving much quicker than I originally anticipated and because of your course, I'm able to navigate us to higher efficiencies!
Rachel Roberts
Business Solutions Manager
When I took this course I was expecting to come away with better requirements gathering skills but didn’t realise the confidence it would bring me in my workshop facilitation skills.
My employer is impressed, the clients I’ve used it with have given great feedback and I’m enjoying leading workshops more because of it. I highly recommend this course to anyone in the Power Platform space and would like to say a big thanks to Hamish for putting it together!
Rachel Bird
Business Improvement Consultant
The live workshops were really helpful as we were able to practice the theory, we learned with direct feedback from you as a coach. The workshops were also fun and engaging. Definitely the highlight of the course for me :-)
Dani Kahil
Power Platform & Dynamics 365 Consultant
I really enjoyed this Hamish. It was good to take myself back to first principles. I’ve been asked to work in some very challenging & vague ways, so it’s easy to stray from the patterns that work.
Your course has helped me to refresh the theory I’ve studied previously. Thank-you so much! You are a fabulous facilitator & I can see why Neil recommends you.
Emma Wehrmann
Business/Systems Analyst, Delivery Specialist
I found the most benefit in learning how to apply Design Thinking principles to my Business Applications projects. In particular, how to gain empathy for our users so that we build applications they'll love instead of focusing on building features their managers want on time and on budget.
Neil Benson
Founder Customery & Superware
Your Instructor
Hi, I’m Hamish.
A couple of years ago, I had a challenging project to modernise a 20 year old Access database, which was a complete mess, and replace with a Power App. The information overload was overwhelming, the client was not experienced with software projects, and I had a new employee who was going to build the app. How on earth was I to take this mass of unstructured information and turn it into a clear backlog of requirements that both my client and employee could understand.
Around the same time, I found design thinking, became obsessed, and started exploring how to leverage its benefits in the work that I do. I have spent countless hours and over $15,000 on design thinking and workshop facilitation training. Over the past 3 years I have built up my coaching skills and experience as a volunteer coach for IDEO U - online learning from the award-winning design & innovation firm, IDEO.
Out of this was born the Solution Mapping Framework – a simple and easy to follow process that results in outputs that both clients and colleagues understand.
I have been where you are. I would love to chat about how I can help you on your journey to become a sought-after business applications consultant.
Outside of work, I live on Auckland’s North Shore with my wife and 2 young children. We spend a lot of time at the beach, with my biggest passion being kitesurfing.
Risk-Free Guarantee
If you make the decision to invest in yourself and your team, I am certain that you will see transformative results. But I want to make this a completely risk-free decision for you. If you are not more confident in your approach to facilitating workshops and defining business applications after completing the program, I will provide a full refund.
Pricing
Do It Yourself
Learn in your own way, with videos, articles and templates. Get started now.
Best for people on a budget, prepared to take more time and do not require further assistance.
$297
USD
✓ Self-paced video lessons & exercises
✓ Community based support
✓ Downloadable templates & worksheets
✓ Lifetime access to content and community
Coaching Program
Take action and practice what you learn with a group of like-minded people.
Best for individuals who are serious about personal growth, now.
$1,097
USD
✓ Everything from Do It Yourself
✓ 4x interactive group coaching workshops
✓ Practice new skills in a safe environment
✓ Access to Miro – online digital whiteboard
✓ Assignments with 1:1 feedback
✓ 1:1 wrap-up / goal setting coaching call
✓ Group learning in an online community
Limited to 10 people per cohort
Private Cohort
A private cohort for your team with personalised content and exercises.
Best for teams who want to apply the course to their own projects.
$9,497
USD
✓ Everything from the Coaching Program
✓ Personalised workshop subject based on a project of your choice
✓ Personalised times for workshops
Includes up to 10 people per cohort
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What's Inside?
1. Prepare
Align on business objectives an identify who should be in the workshops.
Tools and techniques learnt:
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Solution Canvas - Define the north star for the project and align on the objectives.
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Stakeholder Mapping - Identify the people we are designing a solution for.
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Workshop Canvas - Answer key questions and map out your workshops so you can set expectations and plan the workshop schedule.
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2. Understand
Understand the people, the business processes and the challenges they face.
Tools and techniques learnt:
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Expert Interviews - Capture the challenges a group as around the project topic.
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Efficient Note Taking - Learn how to be more efficient with note taking by getting others to do it for you.
3. Explore
Ideate solution options to overcome the users' challenges.
Tools and techniques learnt:
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User Journey Map - Produce ideas to overcome challenges based on a timeline of activities.
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Impact – Effort Matrix - Prioritise ideas in a way that takes feasibility into consideration.
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4. Materialise
Visualise the future state processes and identify the high-level backlog.
Tools and techniques learnt:
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Swimlane Business Process Diagrams - Design & document the future state process in a way that considers people, systems and their interactions.
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Backlog Definition - Use the information gathered in the exercises and workshops to define the requirements backlog as Epics, Features and User Stories.
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Solution Blueprint - Align workshop outputs with Microsoft's Success by Design Solution Blueprint template.
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What is the time commitment?We know everyone is busy! Our streamlined approach is especially beneficial for working professionals who need to balance their learning with their busy work schedules. The minimum time commitment is approximately 2 - 3hrs per week for 4 weeks. - Approx. 1hr of watching videos and reading - 1.5hrs of group coaching workshops The course also includes assignments, feedback, support and 1:1 coaching, which are available after the 4 group coaching workshops are complete. There is no expiry or deadline for these, and learners usually come back to these activities weeks or months later once they have applied their new skills in the real world and have more questions.
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How do the group coaching workshops work?Each cohort has 4x 1.5hr group coaching workshops. 1 a week over the course of 4 weeks, each focusing on different workshop facilitation skills and exercises. The workshops are designed to simulate a real-world workshop. You will be participating with up to 9 other people, working through a real-life business application scenario that is familiar to everyone. We use Miro and Microsoft Teams to facilitate the workshops.
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How often are the cohorts run?The cohorts are currently run every 1 - 2 months depending on demand and availability. Each cohort is limited to 10 people so book in early to secure a place.
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What types of people join the program?There are many different types of people who join the program, but they all have the same goal - to give themselves new knowledge and tools to be better at faciliating requirements gathering workshops. The typical types of people that join are: - Individual consultants that work for Microsoft Partners - Dynamics 365 CE, F&O or Power Platform - Consulting teams from Microsoft Partners - these typically do a private cohort (ask me about this if interested) - Business Application owners / team leads within an organisation - Business analysts - Solution architects
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What time zones are catered for?AppRising is based in the corner of the world, in New Zealand, However, we have people from all over join the program and we schedule the group coaching workshop times so that they suit everyone in the cohort. We have had people join from: - New Zealand - Australia - United Kingdom - Netherlands - USA - Canada
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The program is expensive. Do you offer discounts?The program is expensive, but the value you get in return is a lot more! From the savings your team will make on avoiding costly rework, to the increased earning potential you have as an individual (my hourly rate has more than doubled due to facilitation). Remember that you’ll have a risk-free guarantee. If you do not think that the course has delivered incredible value and transformed the way you gather requirements and facilitate workshops, I will provide a full refund. As such, we do not typically give discounts. However, we are open to offer a payment plan spreading the payments over 2 - 3 months. Please ask us about this.