In this stage the company is hardly involved. Programming is an expert's job and requires concentration and dedication. Nevertheless it would be good if at the start of the programming, the company could already see some prototypes of the data entry screen. Depending on the requirements the programming might take from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. The testing phase is very essential in the life cycle of an application.
Any application comes with bugs and bad testing means shortening the life cycle of the application.
While working with it, the company finds bugs, gets dissatisfied and throws the application away. This should not happen. The more time you spend on testing the application, the brighter its future. Testing is often split between testing at the software house for just a couple of days and testing at the company's site. The last one should last at least up to 3 months.