Designing Business Applications
ONLINE COURSE
Go from knowing the technology to leading the room.
A practical course in design thinking, workshop facilitation, and consulting skills. Taught in the context of real Power Platform and Dynamics 365 work and built to be used straight away.
Self-paced
learn at your own pace
Live workshops
with Hamish and peers
Templates
ready to use on real projects
Want to upskill your team? See Private Coaching →
WHO IT'S FOR
For the people who put users first.
This course is for Solution Architects, Functional Consultants, Business Analysts, and Power Platform Makers who want to lead better, facilitate with confidence, and build solutions that actually get adopted.
Sound familiar?
Overwhelmed by complex projects and competing stakeholder demands
You know the technical side. This fills the gap: how to bring people together, get requirements right the first time, and guide a project from ambiguity to a working solution people love using.
Frustrated by the gap between technical and business teams
Uncertain how to gather requirements and truly understand what users need
Anxious about facilitating workshops or leading project conversations
Demotivated by rework, failed UAT, and solutions that miss the mark
WHAT YOU'LL GAIN
Rare skills. Real results.
We teach practical design thinking, workshop facilitation, and consulting skills and we show you how to apply them to Microsoft best practice frameworks like Dynamics 365 Success By Design and Power Platform Well-Architected.
Spend less time preparing. Get better results.
Your workshops are sharper and shorter. Deliverables take half the time because you have templates that work, not blank pages to fill every time.
Stop arriving at UAT to find you built the wrong thing.
When you know how to gather requirements properly, they stick. The costly cycle of missed expectations and late-stage rework becomes the exception, not the rule.
Run workshops your stakeholders look forward to.
Your stakeholders feel heard and involved. They leave with clarity and genuine buy-in, not just a list of actions they'll ignore.
Walk into any room and lead it.
You stop dreading facilitation. With a structured approach and the right techniques, you know how to lead a room, regardless of who's in it or how ambiguous the problem is.
Open doors to more interesting, senior work.
The people who can bridge technical and business teams are rare. These skills get you noticed by your manager, by clients, and by the organisations hiring for senior roles.
Become the consultant clients ask for by name.
When you lead with empathy and keep the team focused on real user needs, the results speak for themselves. Colleagues want you in the room. Clients come back.
HOW IT WORKS
Designed for busy consultants.
Short, high-value lessons you can apply immediately — whether you're preparing for a workshop, mapping a process, or working through a requirements challenge right now.
Self-paced lessons
Search and choose from a library of bite-sized lessons based on what you need help with right now. Short videos and readings packed with consulting experience and design thinking insight — built to be actioned straight away.
Live group workshops
Attend interactive sessions with Hamish and fellow members. Practice new skills in a safe environment, learn from real challenges shared by your peers, and leave with actionable insights and new connections.
Tools & templates
A library of Miro and document templates to accelerate your preparation and client deliverables. Built from years of real Power Platform and Dynamics 365 project experience, ready to drop into your next engagement.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Results from the people who've done it.
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
Your course has helped out so much and because of that my model driven app was a success. After convincing senior stakeholders that the model driven app was the right solution, we managed cut the costs by 90% and the adoption rate is so high. The ease of use and simplicity was a big hit, so much so we are ready to roll out another solution to the whole organisation.
Adil Khamker
Business Analyst
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
Choose your level of commitment.
Invest in the strategic skills that set you apart from the technical crowd. Whether you're an individual consultant or a full delivery practice, we provide the framework to turn technology into user-centric solutions.
PROFESSIONAL
Consultant Pro
For individuals serious about personal growth. Live workshops, 1:1 feedback, peer learning with a cohort of like-minded people.
$897
/ per person (USD)
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Everything in Basic
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Interactive group coaching workshops
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Practice skills in a safe environment
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Assignments with 1:1 feedback
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After-course support
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Certificate of achievement
Note: Limited to 10 seats per cohort.
PRICING
Most popular
Your Instructor
Hamish Sheild - learn more here
NOT SURE WHERE TO START?
Book an obligation-free call.
Still not sure if the online course or private coaching is the right path for your technical team? Let’s talk about your current delivery challenges and map out how a human-centered design approach can transform your Microsoft implementation results.