Methods, systems, and computer program products for ranking data items are described. In accordance with various example embodiments, a ranking configuration is defined for an object type, the ranking configuration comprising an assignment of one or more ranking dimensions each comprising one or more object attributes to the object type and, for each of the one or more assigned ranking dimensions, one or more corresponding values and a significance weight assigned to each value, at least one of values being a dynamic value corresponding to the context-based object attribute. A ranking condition is generated for each ranking dimension assigned to the object type. The generation of the ranking condition is based at least in part on one or more object attributes, a specified ranking-impact weight, a context value corresponding to the context-based object attribute, and the one or more values and associated significance weights. A database query for data objects of the specified object type and comprising the generated ranking condition is generated.