As is the case with the rest of the Federal administration, the Federal Parliament approves the budget and the tasks of the Federal Office of Topography. The basis for this is the preliminary budget containing an integrated task and finance plan (ITFP). It contains the tasks scheduled for the following year and the anticipated revenues. The ITFP also gives an overview of the presumed development of tasks and revenues during the three years following the budget period. In addition, it describes swisstopo’s tasks and projects relevant for drawing up the budget, as well as the goals for each department of the Federal Office.

The Federal Parliament has determined the following strategic focus for swisstopo:

• Definition of measures and rolling implementation of the "Swiss Geoinformation Strategy", in collaboration with the federal agencies concerned and the cantons
• Implementation of the "swisstopo Strategy 2025"
• Ensuring the availability of the most up-to-date geo-reference data in Switzerland (area-wide and in the required quality)
• Concept of a national register of spatial data for a digital Switzerland (georegister), in cooperation with other federal agencies and the cantons

swisstopo’s tasks are always precisely attributed to one of the three performance groups: “Topography and cartography”, “Surveying and Geocoordinates” and “Swiss Geology”. The ITFP lists in detail the tasks, budget and estimate for each performance group. Context information and comments serve to better understand the figures.

Every August, the Swiss Federal Council submits a draft estimate for the following year to the Federal Parliament. The Federal Parliament passes it during the subsequent winter session. Further information on this topic is given under Financial reports on the Federal Finance Administration website.