[Wikitech-l] automated category creation approach?

I'm hoping to gain some insight into how I might accomplish the following. I have an XML file that contain my company's product tree. The file is hierarchical and contains the following structure:

<familyhierarchy> <family> <familyid> <name> <parentId> <url> <level>

I need to import this file and automatically create Categories and applicable SubCategories in my wiki on a scheduled basis, picking up any changes that may have occurred over time.

How would one approach such a task?

My first thought is a script (PHP, Python, whatever) run periodically using cron to parse the file and trigger Category/SubCategory creation. Is this even possible?

My second thought is to create an extension to parse the file periodically and create the Categories/SubCategories.

Any advice as to how to solve this would be appreciated.

Thanks Bill