How Habitat Planning regained control of 20 years of project information and 190 active jobs
For Habitat Planning, growth exposed the limits of managing projects through File Explorer. As the team expanded and active work climbed to around 190 projects, retrieving reports or emails became slow, version control broke down and too much time was lost searching for information. By moving more than 20 years of project data into 12d Synergy, Habitat created a centralized and searchable environment for reports, emails and working files, giving the team faster retrieval, stronger version control and a more productive way to manage document-heavy planning projects.
Habitat Planning is a town planning and urban design consultancy based in Albury-Wodonga. The practice works across regional New South Wales and Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, providing advisory services to private development and government clients. Habitat describes itself as an industry-leading planning consultancy focused on creating places and communities of lasting value.
Town planning consultancy
Urban planning
Make project information easier to manage with 12d Synergy.
From documents and drawings to emails, models and workflows, 12d Synergy brings everything together in one secure system so your team can work more efficiently from day one.
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The Challenge
Before implementing 12d Synergy, Habitat was using File Explorer to manage over 20 years of files as well as up to 190 active projects. As David Hunter, Director at Habitat Planning, explained even the basic task of retrieving a report or email could waste hours because it was so difficult to locate the right information.
As the team grew from 2 staff to 7, the volume of documentation grew with it. That led to reduced oversight across projects, confusion over which documents were current and the buildup of duplicated files and multiple versions of the same report. For a consultancy dealing with document-heavy planning work, that created friction across daily delivery.
Email was another major problem. Habitat handled very high volumes of project correspondence, but emails were being managed through individual inboxes and File Explorer. Information could easily be trapped with one staff member, making continuity difficult when someone was absent or had left the business.
Watch: Habitat’s Journey with 12d Synergy
The Solutions
Habitat transitioned from File Explorer to 12d Synergy to create a centralized project information environment for both active and archived projects. This gave the business one centralised repository for reports, drawings, PDFs, emails and Microsoft and Adobe files, making project information faster to retrieve and easier to control.
12d Synergy also introduced automated version and revision control. Instead of relying on manual policies around naming and filing, Habitat could work with a stronger audit trail showing the who, what and when behind each edit, while still being able to roll back to earlier versions if needed.
Outlook integration was another major improvement. Habitat used 12d Synergy to save, stamp and file emails into job folders, which meant correspondence was no longer trapped in personal inboxes and could be accessed by the wider team. The platform also helped support more standardized job structures and automated QA processes, improving consistency across projects.
The Result
- Centralized 20+ years of project files in one searchable environment.
- Improved control across approximately 190 active projects.
- Supported a growing team that expanded from 2 staff to 7.
- Reduced time wasted retrieving reports and emails from fragmented storage.
- Improved version control and rollback across document-heavy planning projects.
- Streamlined email filing and reduced the risk of project knowledge being trapped in personal inboxes.
- Delivered clearer ROI through faster retrieval, better productivity and stronger document management.
“We’ve definitely seen an ROI benefit in using 12d Synergy. We’re now much more efficient in file and document management, and we’re able to retrieve documents quicker, and generally be more productive. I would recommend 12d Synergy to other users in town planning, engineering, and project management fields.”
A growing planning practice needed control over information, not just storage
What makes Habitat’s story distinctive is that the core problem was not technical complexity in the engineering sense. It was the operational drag created when a document-heavy consultancy outgrew simple folder-based storage. Once years of reports, emails and project files had accumulated, the absence of structure made retrieval slow and reduced confidence in what was current.
For Habitat, that meant information management had become a real business issue. Time was being lost, oversight was weakening and the team needed a system that could bring order to both active and archived work.
From File Explorer to a centralized project data environment
A big part of the transformation came from moving away from File Explorer and into a centralised common data environment. That shift gave Habitat one place for all its key project information, whether that was a planning report, a PDF, a drawing or a project email.
That matters in a planning consultancy because so much of the job depends on fast access to past correspondence, supporting reports and current document versions. By centralizing both active and archived work, Habitat made retrieval faster and reduced the frustration that had built up around searching for information.
Email visibility became just as important as file control
Habitat described receiving thousands of emails per project, and under the old system there was no cohesive or automated way to save them. If someone was out of the office or left the business, critical information could remain stuck in their inbox.
By using 12d Synergy’s Outlook integration, Habitat made project emails visible and searchable as part of the job record. That improved continuity across the team and made it easier to find the exact correspondence needed when decisions, advice or past actions had to be checked.
Version control and standardization reduced document chaos
Version control was another major improvement. Under File Explorer, Habitat was dealing with multiple duplicate or outdated files and sometimes dozens of versions of the same document. 12d Synergy gave the firm automated version and revision control, along with a clearer audit trail and easier rollback.
This was reinforced by more standardized job structures and automated QA support, helping the business reduce the manual burden of document naming, filing and consistency as it continued to grow.
Habitat Planning is a town planning and urban design consultancy based in Albury-Wodonga. The practice works across regional New South Wales and Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, providing advisory services to private development and government clients. Habitat describes itself as an industry-leading planning consultancy focused on creating places and communities of lasting value.
Town planning consultancy
Urban planning
Make project information easier to manage with 12d Synergy.
From documents and drawings to emails, models and workflows, 12d Synergy brings everything together in one secure system so your team can work more efficiently from day one.
Book a DemoPositioned for more productive project management
Habitat Planning’s experience shows how quickly information management can become a limiting factor in a growing consultancy. By bringing reports, emails and project files into one controlled environment, the business created a more reliable foundation for day-to-day delivery.
The result was not simply cleaner storage, but a more productive way of working — one where the team could retrieve documents faster, trust current versions more easily and manage planning projects with greater confidence.