A method for optimally designing an irrigation system and managing/operating the designed irrigation system in real time comprising: •receiving data associated with a proposed irrigation design; •analysing the proposed design comprising one or more proposed measurements and automation requirements; •retrieving one or more pre-established estimation rules from a data store and mapping them with the proposed design; •estimating additional measurement and automation requirements based on one or more such estimation rules; •adjusting one or more estimation rules based on real data associated with operation of a previous/current irrigation system; •estimating one or more of acquisition, installation and operating costs based on one or more of: hardware costs; radio network propagation characteristics (optionally of terrain, crop, etc); other factors that have historically contributed to ownership cost; •displaying to a user one or more of such estimated costs; •calculating one or more alternative designs and displaying the associated information.