I'm not a professional installer or anything, but I do manage cameras in about 8 separate locations (gosh, when did it get to be so many?!). Anyway for camera prep, usually I just plug them in and set up various things: password, static IP, on-screen display, daylight savings time, network time server, video bit rate and resolution. This way I am pretty sure the cameras will work on location and I won't have to spend 5 minutes configuring each one with a laptop (or worse, a tablet/phone) and no table or chair. I do this with practically all cameras, even those that I am installing at my own house.
Though with larger and more complicated items, like the Ubiquiti RocketDishes that I set up last week, I must admit I got lazy and didn't assemble or test anything until I was on site with them. Luckily it all worked out, and we now have an ~18 mile bridge providing internet access to a PTZ camera on a radio tower in the nearby mountains.