Disaster recovery planning is a crucial component to maintaining a business's economic stability. However, it is unclear how key performance indicators (KPIs) are perceived in the emergency medical service (EMS) industry during the disaster recover planning process. The problem addressed in this study was to understand KPIs and their components. This study examined four factors of disaster recovery planning that had previous been identified in the seminal research of Herbane, Elliott, and Swartz (2004). The research investigated EMS personnel's perceptions of speed, configuration resiliency, embeddedness, and obligations with regard to information technology (IT) disaster recovery planning. Themes and patterns were identified in data sets during the analysis. The findings were in alignment with the current literature and revealed underlying components that drive each of the four factors. The results encourage disaster recovery teams to embrace obligations and collaboration as a means to improve and reduce the time to recovery. The study revealed all four components are important factors within a recovery plan, and by favoring only speed, an organization's time to recovery can actually be prolonged. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]