Digital image post processing: Question on adding data to a photo

[popeyespappy]

1. Complete the inventory (A lot of this is already done)
2. Photograph the objects (this won't start until after the first of the year)
2a. The images will be captured in NEF (Nikon RAW) and JPG
2b. We can at this point name (rename) the photos manually to match the accession number if there isn't an easy way to do that later in the process
3. Batch convert the NEF images to TIFF (rename the images if we didn't do that earlier)
4. Insert the watermarks and edit the exif data
5. Batch convert the TIFF images to JPG (the deliverable is both formats, edited and unedited)
6. Profit???

It sounds like an interesting project.  I don't think Photoshop is the right tool for this job-- straight-up Windows programming should be much better, because it allows for complete control.

Can you do 2b through 5 in windows without accessing Photoshop or something similar? i.e. inserting the watermark and format conversions? What kind of hardware and software requirements would the user have to run the program?

I going to PM my work email so we can take this offline if you want.