I've never done it for a lawn, but I have set up multi-zone irrigation for gardens and it was extremely easy. I used a 4 zone electronic timer to feed 3 irrigation lines and 1 normal hose line. There are a bunch of ways to handle the actual lines whether it's full pressure pop up sprinklers, low pressure sprinklers, or drip irrigation, and I have a mix of all of those with the appropriate pressure reducers and whatnot installed.
Once it's hooked up you basically set it up for whatever time, duration, and frequency you want (I stagger the 3 zones so each line gets full pressure) and you're done. You can delay the watering if it's going to rain and set it to coincide with any watering restrictions.
There's probably more to it than that, but I've gotten years of use out of mine without any trouble. Just make sure you blow the lines out. I live on the coast so ground freezing is less of an issue, but I imagine it's pretty important in Calgary.
The timer I used is similar to this one:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/p...t=2,2280,33160
This guide also might be helpful:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/html/xc000ie.pdf