1. A method comprising: receiving a plurality of factors, a test set of items, and an ordering solution representing a preferred ordering of the test set of items; generating a potential ranking function based on the plurality of factors; applying, using a processor, the potential ranking function to each item in the test set of items to generate an ordering of items associated with the potential ranking function; comparing the ordering of items with the ordering solution; identifying, based on the result of the comparing, the potential ranking function as a solution ranking function; and assigning a ranking score to items in a set of active items, the ranking scores assigned to the items determined based on the solution ranking function.