If you are just fitting your own as a one off, and it is a fairly straight forward system then you can program it through the keypad.
It will take a bit of doing, and might make your finger a bit tired, but is perfectly do-able
If you have a few to fit, or the system is a bit more involving, then laptop, software and connector doofer is the way to go.
It makes programming simpler, but the best think is the time it saves if you are installing the systems for profit. (It also means you have a backup of the clients settings should the panel ever crash or need the PCB swapping out etc)