The Specify development team (specify@ku.edu) has a document that should be helpful. If you don't already have software that understands XML coding and structure, it would be worth worth your while to invest in one. Although it is possible to edit the files with any text editor, having an XML-aware program will make the job a lot easier.

Since not all forms will be different for each collection or user, it would be better to move the ones that actually will be different to a separate XML file and import that file at the appropriate level. This will minimize extra load on the system due to having to keep track of multiple versions of precisely identical forms.

We tried customizing for individual users, but gave up on it after discovering that Specify's import/export interface is not capable of removing or replacing a view set that had been imported for any user other than the administrator. It is possible to access the MySQL database directly, figure out which records in which tables correspond to the no longer wanted views, and remove them manually. However, the structure and relationships of these behind-the-scenes tables are not well documented, making operations of this sort risky. It's definitely not something I'd want to do twice!