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In our organization we use the option already mentioned by you.
To add, before we started, there had been an extensive period of research, we sought an easier solution (just as you do), but to no avail.
However, it is not that difficult to implement such a decision (ASP/Dreamweaver + database) and once we started it was definitely a very lucrative time investment. So, if no other option emerges, I would recommend you to go this way.
Have a nice day today!