Processing XML / Business card generator [CS3]

Hi All,

I need advise on the most efficient way to achieve the below outcome;

A script is run which accesses a xml file which contains details for a number of orders (business cards). InDesign takes this xml and either generates the business card from scratch (very basic card design) or opens a template and completes the design. All the cards are identical in terms of formatting. Just the content/data changes. It needs to output a msg if no orders have been placed or dynamically add pages as required depending on the number of orders placed. This needs to be run once daily.

It then needs to export each page  as a pdf where the file name is based on data (order number) from the xml file.

Once the script has processed all the data within the xml (and exported each design as a pdf) it then needs to generate a new document that takes the pdf files output previously and lay them up based on the card quantities required (this data is also contained in the xml file). It exports this as a pdf file containing all the cards laidup and ready to print.

Im not in any rush to achieve this, and really appreciate any ideas and references that people can offer. I am new to scripting for ID, but do have a little JS experience and always love a challenge. Since the whole process is modular i should be able to tackle pieces at a time until i have a fully functional business card generator.

Cheers