Copy files once, copy shortcuts to multiple users

I'm a new PDQ Deploy user and I'm trying to wrap my brain around how to create a deploy package for our custom in-house software.

I manage a winforms app that has frequent releases. Many of these releases do not require that the user exit and restart immediately. To allow them to keep working, we copy new releases out to a pre-determined folder that is not in use, and update the shortcuts on all users' public desktops. That way the next time they start the application, they're on the new version. (I may need help re-thinking how I deal with deploying when apps are in-use.)

The release steps look like this:

1. Build app in release configuration
2. Copy app out to a network folder
3. Copy the appropriate pre-built shortcut out to each users' public desktop

In this scenario, how do I handle the following:

1. I don't need to copy the app for each user. How do I copy the files once, but copy the shortcuts for each user? Do I create separate packages for the file copy step and the short-cut copy step?
2. I am deploying the files to one of six possible folders (v1 through v6). If I deploy to the v2 location, for example, I need to push the v2 shortcut out to my users. Is there a way to prompt for a variable during package execution so I can specify the v number? I would hate to think that I have to build 6 packages for each copy scenario and 6 more for each shortcut scenario.