Abstract: Methods and systems in a contact center for estimating staff levels expected to meet service quality goals are described. In one embodiment, a required staff simulator controller utilizes an event-based simulator to execute staff calculations. The required staff controller reconfigures the simulator for different staff levels and repeatedly runs the simulator to test if the configured staff level is likely or not likely to meet configured service goals using selected confidence levels. The required staff controller determines and presents for each agent type a least upper bound and a greatest lower bound for required staff.