Asset forms and supporting resource forms are similar in that they both use the same form designer interface. The difference between them is that asset forms such as "Desktop" or "Laptop" are the top-level tangible part of the asset, while the supporting resources for these assets are things like "Contracts" or "Purchase orders." Contracts are associated with a laptop, but there may be several choices of these for each laptop. That's where it's helpful to have a supporting resource for contracts, so people requesting a new laptop can make a selection from the available contracts.
Supporting resource forms store, describe, and identify all relevant data for any object or element that exists or is being tracked based on its relationship to one or more assets. This includes leases, purchase orders, vendors, manufacturers, service contracts, shipping carriers, and organizational details such as cost centers, departments, locations, management or accountability relationships, and so on.
Supporting resources are created and configured using the Design console and are displayed, populated, submitted, and updated using the Web console.
For more information on creating forms, see Creating asset forms.