1. A computer-implemented method of configuring a database system for a global attribute search, the method comprising: receiving a first user-actuated input in a distributed computing system that comprises multiple executable software applications, each of which processes data objects that are stored in the distributed computing system, the data objects having attributes and corresponding attribute values that are stored in two or more attribute repositories of an attribute system, the first user-actuated input identifying a user-selected attribute having an attribute name; receiving a second user-actuated input that identifies a user-determined alias name; and storing in the attribute system an association between the user-determined alias name and the user-selected attribute name, such that during execution of a global search of attributes in the two or more attribute repositories, the attribute system provides the user-selected attribute name in response to query input comprising the user-determined alias name and provides the user-determined alias name in response to reverse-query input comprising the user-selected attribute name.