In some cases (new bridges in the inventory), it would be helpful to have the option to pull values for populating forms from the same open report (report values vs asset values), since there are no asset values that have yet been filled out for the structure.
In the case of a new asset in inventory, its initial values can be populated a number of ways. Data can be bulk import after asset creation. Admins can edit asset values and manually populate the data. Or there are users that utilize an "initial" or "inventory" report type. This allows prepopulating data using a report, with a quick approval workflow. Depending on user requirements, may not actually need a physical inspection.