The following procedures describe my approach toward a minimal error prone migration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 to MS CRM 2011.
1. I start by installing CRM 2011 with a dummy organisation, yes, I don't import the CRM 4.0 organisation, because I want to make sure CRM 2011 is installed and deployed with out any problems. More over it gives the flexibility to map user, if it is from a different domain.
(1,5 Hour)
2. I install all the latest updates and roll-up for the CRM 2011, verify if everything is alright. (0,5 Hour)
3. I install the latest update and roll-up on CRM 4.0 machine, that is only if my client is agrees. Of course, I make a snapshot or a backup before doing this, just in case any new roll-up might break the existing system. This is the productive environment and I don't want to mess any thing. (2 Hours)
3. I backup and transfer the CRM 4.0 database - Org_CRM along with the SQL Report Server database - ReportServer to the new SQL Server. I do not back up and restore the MS_Config file, it already exists from CRM 2011 installation. If it's taking any longer and no one is working on the live system, I use the detach and re-attach database method. (1 Hours)
4. Export the SRSS Encryption Key from SQL Server for CRM 4.0 Reports and import them to the CRM 2011 SQL Report Server. I verify it from the Keys table in ReportServer database. (0,5 Hour)
5. I start the deployment manager and do the import for the CRM 4.0 database. If I have to, I re-map the users. If it succeeds without any errors, I won't believe myself; else, I will start to look for error details in %AppData%\Microsoft\MSCRM\Logs and fix them with my best friend Google. Delete the dummy organisation that I created in step 1. (2,5 Hours)
Estimates are basic fixtures for your idea that later could be used for billing purposes depending on the unexpected errors that appear.
Cheers, Shaurya