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Case – The Graduation Party
Part 1
“Let’s plan a graduation party for our seniors,” suggested Jim Teacher, president of the Delta Mu
Zeta fraternity at State U. Everyone on the fraternity council thought that it was a good idea, so
they agreed to brainstorm ideas for the party.
“First, we have to pick a date,” suggested Joe. “It’ll have to be after final exams are over,
but before graduation.”
“That narrows it down pretty quickly to June 8, 9, or 10. The 11th is a Sunday and the
12th is graduation day,” said Jim. “I propose that we try for Thursday the 8th, with the alternate
date of Friday, the 9th. We’ll have to take a vote at the fraternity meeting tomorrow.”
Assignment:
1. Put yourself in Joe’s position. Develop an interrelationship digraph for the party planners.
Draw arrows from one activity to the next one that must occur. Note that the activities that have
the most arrows going into them will tend to be the long-range results. Activities having the most
arrows originating from them will tend to be the initial activities.
2. What can you conclude from the graph? How would this digraph help make the job of
organizing the party easier for the project team?
Part 2
Jim Teacher was able to get some estimating information from the president of another fraternity
that had planned and carried out a similar party for graduating seniors last year. They had not
kept financial information, but they did have the actual hours that it took to complete each
activity. From these data, Jim obtained the following time estimates for Delta Mu Zeta.
Pick date 1 day
Plan menu 2 days
Get food delivered 1 day
Estimate costs 3 days
Locate and book a hall 5 days
Design and print invitations 3 days
Set up mailing list 5 days
Dress rehearsal (day before party) “dummy activity” 0 days
Mail invitations 1 day
Plan ceremony for seniors 2 days
Rehearse ceremony 1 day
Plan after-party cleanup and bill paying 2 days
Have the party 1 day
Cleanup and pay bills 1 day
Assignment:
1. You are Joe, the project manager. Use the interrelationship digraph developed in Part 1 to
draw an arrow diagram, making sure that activities are sequenced in the correct order.
