Accessing Oracle from Python for automated publishing to ArcGIS for Server

Hi, I've been tasked with automating the daily publishing of an Oracle table to an ArcGIS for Server instance. There is no SDE installed on Oracle, and I have little control over the database instance itself. My solution to this is the following:
1. Install ArcMap on a server machine.
2. Have a recurring Python script that updates a local geodatabase with a fresh copy of the table from the Oracle instance.
3. Automate republishing of the data to an ArcGIS for server instance using ArcGIS for Server admin utilities and arcpy.mapping.

Is there a simpler way to do this? If not, does anyone have any tips on how to get started on accessing Oracle database through Python using OBDC connections?

Thanks!