This Xnode allows setting a cluster element by label string without using references. I pulled a great deal of inspiration from Hooovahhs Variant Array to cluster xnode, which i suppose this could be used for, another benefit is its not limited to 255 elements. Its mostly experimental because I haven't used it much.
SetClusterElement.zip
SetClusterElementLV2013.zip
The cRIO sample projects were written with close collaboration with the Systems Engineering group here at NI. The places in which we used global variables for multi-loop communication were specifically chosen for performance benefits over other data communication mechanisms.
I'm going to make our certification department aware of this thread so they know about your concerns, and take into account the (approved) implementations of the sample projects when grading the CLED.